King of Pain: One of the Largest Sunspots of the Last Decade Has Just Released an X-Class Solar Flare

Hide your kids, hide your wives...
From EarthSky:

One of the largest sunspots in years has rotated into view, over the sun’s northeastern visible edge. Designated AR1339, it is some 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) wide and at least twice that in length. That means you could line six planet Earths up side by side in front of this baby’s long dimension. Plus sunspot AR1339 has already spawned an X-class solar flare, the most powerful of the solar flare categories defined by NASA....MORE

AR1339 during the early hours of Nov. 3, 2011. Image Credit: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

From the astrophysicists at Mudvayne:


From NOAA, the flare: