Solar activity has recovered

As of early Wednesday, it's clear that solar activity has resumed.

Yesterday's search for the source of the flares was misguided. This year, there will be a different queen. Everything happening on the chart has nothing to do with 4366. A new, young region is emerging in the south.

Yesterday, by inertia, we recorded our fourth consecutive sunspot-free day, but that's just a formality. "Winter" is over.

The new group of sunspots is not yet visible above the horizon and has no number. The last time this side of the Sun turned toward Earth (about three weeks ago), there was no active region here, so it emerged quite recently—most likely no more than two or three days ago. The flare level is still close to M, but formally the M-class threshold has not yet been crossed. However, this is likely only because some of the radiation is currently being blocked by the solar disk (the region is still shining above the horizon). In fact, it's highly likely that a series of M-flares is already forming.

As for 4366, it appears to be alive in some form. At least, magnetic loops growing from sunspots are clearly emerging from the northern horizon, although the sunspots themselves are still not visible. But the current activity has nothing to do with this. It's a young, newly formed group raging below, in the south, beyond the edge of the Sun.