A large sunspot is emerging from the Sun’s northeastern limb:

The new region is at the upper part of the image – sunspot AR 2975 and the main active region is about the size of Earth. This region could produce flares and is a good target for observations using the MicroObservatory as well as the Slooh.com Canary 5 Solar telescope.

This is a closeup of the region from the SDO:

The other active region near the bottom of the image is AR 2974.

AR 2975 is now two active regions – the new one is AR 2976 (at the top of the image):

AR 2974, at the bottom of the image, produced an M1-class solar flare at 05:26 UT on March 25.

Here is a SOHO image of the active regions on March 29, 2022:

AR 2975 has been producing flares and sent a couple of CMEs toward Earth – they are expected to arrive on March 31 or April 1.

This is the sun as it appeared on March 30:

Refer to the preceding image for the location of the active regions. AR 2975 generated a total of 17 flares, producing two CMEs that are expected to arrive on March 31 or April 1.

This is a view of the whole face of the Sun, as observed using the MicroObservatory on March 30:

AR 2975 produced an X-class solar flare at 17:37 UT on March 30, 2022.

The expected CME arrived and produced aurora as far south as northern U.S. states. Here’s an image from Montana, taken by Matt Moffet in Montana:

Another CME is on the way from the X-class flare from AR 2975 on March 30 – it is expected to arrive on April 2.

This is the sun as it appeared on April 1:

AR 2975 is on the far right with AR 2976 to its left. The dark region near the left is AR 2978. An X-3-class solar flare from AR 2975 on March 30 could arrive by April 2; however it is not clear whether the CME was directed toward Earth, so this could be a glancing blow.

The CME arrived on April 2 and it was a glancing blow, causing a minor geomagnetic storm.