Active region 9393, the largest sunspot group of the current solar cycle, is now rotating over the central meridian of the Sun's visible disk. The new record holder, AR9393, registered an area of 2200 millionths of a solar hemisphere (MH) on March 28, 2001 (13 times the surface area of the Earth), surpassing last year's sunspot AR9169 as the largest of the current solar cycle. AR9169 reached 2140 MH on September 20, 2000. Magnetic fields above the spot have a tangled beta-gamma-delta configuration which is likely to continue triggering violent activity in the coming days.
Credits: Franky Dubois
