New "Behemoth" Sunspot And Unsettled Polar Magnetic Field

Now that the big sunspot AR1515, which unleashed one X-class flare and numerous M-class flares and CMEs over the last week has faded from view, another huge one is turning towards us – AR1520. Forecasters are saying that there is an 80% chance of M-class flares in the next 24 hours and a 25% chance of X-class flares. Considering the fact that the last time they put those odds out there, we had an X 1.1 flare, I would say it’s a pretty safe bet that this new spot will unleash at least one X classer soon.

Also very interesting is the unsettled state of the polar magnetic field, as evidenced by this chart linked to on spaceweather.com :

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/kp_3d.html

It almost has a “pulse like” quality to it, with the planetary Kp index going up, then down, then up again, then down – very unsettled indeed.

Solar scientists tell us we are entering another solar maximum, and due to the fact that it is almost 2 years overdue, something tells me that this one is going to be a real doozie. And so far, the Sun seems to be indicating just that.

More at http://www.spaceweather.com