THE EXPLOSIONS CONTINUE: Sunspot AR3165 is crackling with M-class solar flares, more than 18 in the last two days. Pulses of extreme ultraviolet radiation are ionizing the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing frequent shortwave radio blackouts. The blackout events are regional, like this one, but they are rolling around the globe as Earth turns beneath the flaring sun. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.

The constant flaring of AR3165 has made it easy for astrophotographers to catch the sunspot exploding. Sylvain Weiller sends this picture of today's M4-class flare from Jerusalem:

"The sunspot is so active!" says Weiller. "I need extra disk space just to hold all of today's flares."

more images: from Pepe Manteca of Barcelona, Spain; from Alexander Golitschek of Darmstadt, Germany; from Philippe Tosi of Nîmes, France;

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A MORE DANGEROUS SUNSPOT: Sunspot AR3165 may be crackling with solar flares, but it is not directly facing Earth. Most of the debris from those explosions is completely missing our planet. Meanwhile, there is a more dangerous sunspot. AR3163 has an unstable magnetic field and it is staring straight at us:

A magnetic map of the sunspot (inset) shows a mixture of polarities in the region between the sunspot's primary cores. Plus (+) is bumping into minus (-). This could cause explosive magnetic reconnection and a powerful Earth-directed solar flare. Any CME emerging from the blast site would almost certainly strike our planet, causing geomagnetic storms.

So far AR3163 is quiet despite its potential, but it will be facing Earth for several more days. Tick, tock, dangerous sunspot. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.

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