Enormous 'sunspot archipelago' 15 times wider than Earth could soon bombard us with solar flares

A "sunspot archipelago" wider than 15 Earths recently became visible on the sun's nearside to Earth. The dark patches may spit out solar storms directly at us.  (Image credit: NASA/SDO/HMI)

One of the largest and most densely populated sunspot regions seen in more than a decade has appeared on the sun's nearside to Earth — and has begun to unleash a barrage of solar storms that are shaking up our home star's surface in a big way. The sunspots' emergence could make it an interesting few weeks for Earth, which will soon be in the firing line of these eruptive dark patches. 

The first sunspot group, named AR3490, rotated onto the sun's nearside on Nov. 18 over the star's northeastern shoulder. The dark patch was quickly followed by another sunspot group, AR3491, which trailed in its wake, Spaceweather.com reported.