A sunspot has grown so large that it could have catastrophic consequences. The size of sunspot number AR3664 is increasingly resembling the Carrington sunspot, which in 1859 was the harbinger of an apocalyptic particle storm that put the USA in a state of emergency for weeks. The gigantic spot, which can now be seen on the surface of the sun, is already 15 times wider than our Earth at 200,000 kilometers in length and will probably continue to grow. Does this mean that the event of 1859 could happen again and our entire civilization could collapse within minutes?

SunspotSolarStormAR3664CarringtonEventSolarFlareCoronalMassEjectionSpaceWeatherSolarActivityNASAGeomagneticStormSolarDynamicsObservatoryAurorasSpaceScienceSolarObservationEmergencyPreparedness