Sunspot 3912 erupted today (Dec. 8 @ 0906 UT), producing an X2-class solar flare and a shortwave radio blackout over southern Africa. The impulsive flare is the latest in a series of increasingly intense explosions this weekend:
The explosion produced a CME, but an initial analysis suggests it will miss Earth, passing just ahead of our planet in its orbit around the sun. More X-flares are possible in the days ahead because there are two sunspots (3912 and 3917) with unstable magnetic fields.
