'Dead sunspot' launches ball of plasma toward Earth

The sunspot exploded Monday, causing a mass ejection of solar material that is headed in Earth's direction.

The sunspot explosion released loads of energy in the form of radiation, which also led to a coronal mass ejection. According to SpaceWeather, the material in that CME is likely to impact Earth on April 14.

Sunspots are dark areas on the sun's surface. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, they are caused by the sun's magnetic interior. These spots can last from hours to months. The idea of a dead sunspot is more poetic than scientific, said Philip Judge, a solar physicist at the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Judge wrote Live Science in an email that sunspots can restart with more magnetism appearing later in the day at the same region.

There is a new type of solar wave.

The sunspot let out a solar flare at 5:21 Universal Time on Monday. Judge said that the flares happen when the sunspot gives way under stress and that they run into dense material if they go downward.

Flares in the C-class are fairly common and rarely cause any damage. Sometimes, as with today's eruption, solar flares can cause huge eruptions of the sun's magnetic fields, known as coronal mass ejections, which travel outward into space at millions of miles per hour. According to SpaceWeatherLive (opens in new tab), C-class solar flares rarely cause CMEs, and when they do, they are usually slow and weak.

The charged particles within the ejection can travel down the magnetic field lines that originate from the North and South Poles and interact with the gases in the atmosphere.

During quiet times on the sun's surface, a stream of particles known as the solar wind is enough to cause the Aurora in the polar regions. During a large event, the planet's magnetic field can be more messed up, which may cause the Aurora to appear over a larger area. At the end of March, a cannibal CME raced toward Earth, triggering the Auroras in Canada, the northern U.S., and New Zealand.

According to SpaceWeather, there could be minor impacts on satellite operations and weak fluctuations in the power grid if a minor (G1) geomagnetic storm hits on April 14. As far south as northern Michigan and Maine, the Aurora may become visible.

According to the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center, all of this activity is in line with the course for the sun. During this time of increased activity for our nearest star, there are periods of quiet and activity known as solar cycles. Since formal observations began in 1755 the sun has been in Solar Cycle 25. The number of sunspots is on the rise and is expected to peak in the 20th century, which means more opportunities for solar storms.

There were strong storms on Sunday. According to the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center, there have been no other Earth-directed CMEs observed in the past 24 hours.

It was originally published on Live Science.