A sunspot growing fast on the sun has NASA taking notice. The massive sunspot has definitely grown fast and according to a report from Wednesday (Feb. 20), is large enough to "swallow six Earths whole."
NASA began tracking the sunspot on Tuesday (Feb. 19) and tracked it as swelling took place over a 48-hour span. Cameras on the Solar Dynamic Observatory were able to show what was taking place. The camera have definitely revealed some interesting news about what is taking place on the sun right now.
According to NASA spokeswoman Karen Fox, "It has grown to over six Earth diameters across, but its full extent is hard to judge since the spot lies on a sphere, not a flat disk." Fox went on to talk about how the sunspots could indicate that there are solar flares ready to come next. "This is a fairly unstable configuration that scientists know can lead to eruptions of radiation on the sun called solar flares," Fox stated.
Any time a sunspot is seen growing fast on the surface of the sun, it raises the chances of a solar storm occurring. It will be very interesting to see if it causes any disruptions from satellites orbiting Earth, but that fact probably won't be known for at least a few days. NASA has also provided an image for those interested in seeing what this new sunspot looks like.
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