Big sunspot alert….

For most of 2018, the solar disk has been blank without a trace of even the smallest sunspot. This weekend something different is happening.

A large sunspot has suddenly emerged, growing rapidly into a sprawling group with two dark cores as wide as Earth. Satellites are monitoring the region to see if it will break the quiet of solar minimum with a significant flare.

Surprising forecasters, a strong and unexpected G3-class geomagnetic storm is underway during the early hours of August 26th.

The storm may have been caused by a coronal mass ejection (CME) that arrived with little fanfare about 24 hours ago.

Auroras mixed with moonlight have been reported from Scandinavia, Canada, and northern-tier US states such as New York and Michigan.

Visit Spaceweather.com for updates