CHRISTMAS FLARES: A new sunspot (AR2473) is growing rapidly in the sun's southern hemisphere, more than quadrupling in size in the past 24 hours. Crackling with M-class solar flares, the sunspot has already caused several minor shortwave radio blackouts, mainly south of our planet's equator. More flares and radio blackouts are in the offing as the growing sunspot turns toward Earth. Visit http://spaceweather.com for more information.
Sunspot AR2473 produced this strong M4-class solar flare on Dec. 23rd. Image credit: SDO
