The sunspot group with Catania number 05 (NOAA 0720) rotated over the west limb on January 22. While it was visible on the solar disk, it dominated space weather and was responsible for a few days of severe geomagnetic disturbances.
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Click on the pictures to see a white light/MDI movie of the life of that remarkable sunspot group. The pictures are all taken by the MDI instrument onboard of SOHO. The picture/movie on the left shows the Sun as we see in white light (although, with a better resolution than our eyes), while the picture/movie on the right displays the solar magnetic fields as they go in or come out of the solar surface.
This explosive group was responsible for 5 X-flares!
Read the whole story in the SIDC's weekly bulletin.
