Project Diary News Feed

Sunspot group 4478 has further expanded in size over the past 24 hours, reaching an area of 1,550 units. Over the past decade, it is now second in size only to the legendary active region 3664, observed in May 2024 and responsible for the strongest magnetic storm in 20 years on May 11-12 of that year.

A solar flare of the highest magnitude, X, as reported yesterday, occurred almost exactly at midnight Moscow time on the night of June 30–July 1. The time of maximum is listed in the catalog as 08:50 PM UTC.

The largest sunspot group of 2026, No. 4478, captured by photographer Alfredo Vidal Perez (Spain, Barcelona)

Ultimately, the Sun failed to refute the first law of dialectics, and quantity nevertheless began to transform into quality. Since yesterday, the star\'s flare spiral has begun to rapidly accelerate.

Today is the first of three summer full moons, which are so pleasant to observe on a warm evening or night, although visually they are, of course, not as beautiful as the winter ones.

Two major active centers have aligned with the Sun and Earth. Almost any X-level solar flare in the next two to three days will result in a frontal impact on the planet.

Sunspot group 4478 has reached the largest size of all the groups in 2026. Its current area is almost 1,200 units (the exact value is 1,190). The previous largest group, No. 4366, observed in February, produced an X8.1 flare and, in passing, broke the 21st-century record for the total number of strong flares, with an area of 1,100 units at its peak.

Active region 4478, which appeared in Earth's field of view just three days ago, is rapidly growing and has now reached an area of 825 m.s.p. (a unit of measurement for sunspot area), making it the second-largest active region of the year. Among the approximately 160 sunspot groups recorded since January 1, it is second only to region 4366, observed in the first half of February.

A weak magnetic storm of G1 magnitude is observed. The geomagnetic event began around midnight with moderate disturbances and reached storm level approximately three hours ago. The cause of this phenomenon remains a mystery—it can be seen in the lower graph: a rapid increase in solar wind velocity due to the influence of a coronal hole.

The Sun enters the new week with increased activity. On Sunday, two consecutive significant flares were recorded: M2.6 (peaking at 5:46 AM Moscow time) and M6.8 (late in the day, at 10:29 PM Moscow time). Both events are the strongest since June 3, or the last three weeks.