The largest sunspot group of 2026 has formed on the Sun - PHOTO
The largest sunspot group in the last five months is heading toward Earth.
This is reported by the Laboratory of X-ray Astronomy of the Sun of the Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences on its website.
Active region 4478 appeared on June 23 and grew to 825 millionths of the solar disk in three days — this is the second largest indicator since the beginning of the year. It was surpassed only by region 4366, which formed in February and reached 1100 millionths of the solar disk and produced five X-class flares, including the most powerful X8.1.
The new group is not yet highly active: only 11 C-class flares have been recorded in three days. However, almost all noticeable events are accompanied by plasma ejections into space. They do not reach Earth only because the region is strongly shifted to the edge of the solar disk, the scientists clarified.
According to researchers' calculations, on July 1 the region will move to the center of the solar disk. The further behavior of the spots is unpredictable: they may either disintegrate or reach a peak of activity, so the further scenario of events will become clear in the coming days, the laboratory added.
