A gigantic cluster of sunspots — collectively around the same size as the one that birthed the largest solar storm in recorded history — has just emerged on the sun's Earth-facing side, and is now pointed directly at our planet. But don't panic! While auroras and some technological disturbances are possible over the coming week, the new sunspot complex seems unlikely to unleash a second Carrington Event.
The complex, dubbed AR 4294-4296, is made up of two different sunspot groups, AR 4294, and AR 4296, that are magnetically intertwined. It first became visible on Nov. 28, when it rotated onto the sun's Earth-facing side on our home star's western limb. However, the dark patches were first spotted around a week earlier by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, which was spying on the sun's far side relative to Earth.
