A colossal sunspot, the biggest since 1990, triggered the formation of the Aurora Borealis as it blasted off intense solar flares toward the Earth in a span of less than two weeks last month.

This monster sunspot called AR 2192 was so huge it was visible on the surface on the sun on October 23 without a person having to use a telescope. The sunspot was measured at a massive 1.65 billion square miles in size and is the 33rd most active region on the sun.

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Around October 19 to October 28, this sunspot unleashed six X-class flares, the most powerful, along with four medium class M flares. The sunspot, however, didn't release a deadly coronal mass ejection (CME).

CMEs can be classified as solar induced clouds made from intensely hot particles that can cut through space at millions of miles per hour. When CMEs hit the Earth, it triggers geomagnetic storms that produce the Northern Lights called Aurora Borealis and temporarily disrupt power grids and satellite communications.

Apart from these numerous solar flares, this active solar region didn't release any significant CMEs, said Alex Young, a solar scientist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Flares can still be produced without any CMEs and vice versa. This means a big, active region doesn't always necessarily produce the biggest solar events.  

Last October 30, AR 2192 rotated on the opposite side of the sun, out of Earth's view. It will appear again mid-November, if it survives.

To measure sunspots, scientists use microhenmispheres (MH) with one MH equal to 600,000 square miles.

AR 2192 is estimated to be 2,750 MH in size. The largest sunspot ever observed, however, was 4,000 MH to 6,000 MH in size and was seen from 1946 to 1951. AR 2192 had its peak size 24 years ago, on November 18 when it measured 3,080 MH.

TagsMassive Sunspot Unleashes X-Flares Towards Earth, Sun, sunspots, AR 2192, solar flares, coronal mass ejections