[SFDXA] Really big sunspot alert

[Bill]

*From Tony N2MFT:*

*SOLAR FLARES FAVOR THE SOUTH: *A new peer-reviewed study in /Space 
Weather/ shows that the sun’s southern hemisphere has dominated solar 
flare activity for more than three decades. Researchers found that the 
northern hemisphere produced most major flares from Solar Cycles 17 
through 21--but starting in Solar Cycle 22, the balance flipped. Ever 
since, the south has been the more active side of the sun. The asymmetry 
is unmistakable in the flare index record, yet its physical cause 
remains unknown. Read the full paper here 
<https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2025SW004515?campaign=woletoc>.

*REALLY BIG SUNSPOT ALERT: *Yesterday, we issued a big sunspot alert. We 
were wrong. It's *really* big. This image from NASA's Solar Dynamics 
Observatory shows the behemoth emerging over the sun's southeastern limb 
on Nov. 30th:

NASA's Mars rover told us it was coming. Last week, Perserverance saw 
the giant sunspot 
<https://spaceweather.com/images2025/29nov25/martiansun2.jpg> through a 
cloud of dust in Jezero Crater. It was only days away from turning 
toward Earth--and now it is here.

 From end to end, the sunspot group measures ~130,000 km, and at least 
four of the sunspot's primary dark cores are individually larger than 
Earth. These dimensions make it an easy target for safely-filtered 
backyard telescopes. If you don't have a solar filter 
<https://explorescientific.com/products/sun-catcher-full-aperture-solar-filter>, 
try this simple projection technique 
<https://spaceweathercom/repeat_images/projection_sunspot.png> instead.

On Nov. 29th, amateur astronomer Andy Devey watched the sunspot's 
approach from his observatory near Mojácar, Spain:

<https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=229153>

"This is an almost three hour look at the active region rolling around 
the sun's eastern limb," says Devey. "It was sizzling with C-class 
<https://spaceweather.com/glossary/flareclasses.html> solar flares."

On Nov. 28th, the sunspot produced an M6-class solar flare 
<https://spaceweather.com/images2025/29nov25/m6teal.gif>. However, the 
blast site was partially eclipsed by the edge of the sun. The flare's 
true intensity may have been X-class. Now that the sunspot is turning to 
face Earth, future flares will be geoeffective. Stay tuned! *Solar flare 
alerts: *SMS Text <https://spaceweatheralerts.com>.

*more images:* from David Wilson 
<https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=229166> of 
Inverness, Scotland; from Shahrin Ahmad 
<https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=229162> of 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; from Astro Tafelberg 
<https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=229163> of 
Austria; from Sylvain Weiller 
<https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=229169> of 
Jerusalem, Israel;

https://spaceweather.com/
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