Over the past few days, the sun has been alive with a flurry of activity, with sunspots spewing out magnetic energy and releases of fast-moving particles called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
The good news is that for us here on Earth, and particularly in Canada, it means a geomagnetic storm and the increased possibility of catching the northern lights.
While the sun is always active, it has an 11-year cycle with a minimum and a maximum of activity. During the solar maximum — which we have just begun — more sunspots can be seen across the sun’s surface.
These sunspots are
