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Sunspot Grows to 20 Times Size of Earth

Posted by michael on from the tan-don't-burn dept.

TheHedgehog writes "A sunspot group aimed squarely at Earth has grown to 20 times the size of our planet and has the potential to unleash a major solar storm. 'The implications of this spot have scientists on the edge of their seats,' NASA said in a statement Friday. 'If the active region generates coronal mass ejections (CMEs), massive explosions with a potential force of a billion megaton bombs, it will be a fairly direct hit to Earth and its satellites and power grids.'"

1 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. This was Friday.... by BeatdownGeek · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Are we sure this isn't stale news?

    Judging by the latest SOHO images, it looks like the sun spots are already past us... But IANAA (I am not an astronomer).