Get the Sun Screen Ready

July 23, 2004 by smazsyr

Why isn't this being covered elsewhere? Seems there's a huge build up of sun spots pointed right at us. If all goes wrong, we could be in a world of hurt:

"At 20 times the size of Earth, the largest sunspot observed since the fall solar storm onslaught is now pointed directly at Earth. Its unusually large size also means that it's now visible with the naked eye (although you should never look at the Sun without a proper filter). The implications of this spot have scientists on the edge of their seats - if the active region generates coronal mass ejections (CMEs), massive explosions with a potential force of a billion megaton bombs, it will be a fairly direct hit to Earth and its satellites and power grids."