Another northern lights show? That giant sunspot is back and it’s flaring

globalnews.ca:

northern lights earlier this month, you might be in luck over the next couple of weeks.A major solar active region on the sun continues to put out large expulsions of plasma and magnetic energy, and these impressive solar flares are getting set to face our planet again.Earlier this month, the most severe geomagnetic storm of the past 20 years hit Earth, treating Canadians (and much of the Northern Hemisphere) to a spectacular display of aurora borealis.Now, that same sunspot is reappearing after traversing the far side of the sun, and it has the potential to produce some pretty strong flares in the coming days and months.Global News meteorologist Anthony Farnell says that parts of the country could see some aurora activity as early as this weekend.“There is the potential for a G2 solar storm starting late Friday and we could see northern lights this weekend, but the potential is still there for more flares and even better displays as the sunspot moves towards the centre of the sun facing planet Earth,” he said, adding that the solar storm is “expected to arrive late on May 31 or June 1.”Solar flares are categorized by strength, with B-class flares being the weakest and X-class the strongest.Earlier this month, solar active region AR 13664 produced 12 X-class solar flares across six days, resulting in a G5 magnetic storm on Earth — the strongest since 2003.Farnell said the solar region weakened while on the far side of the Sun, but there’s a good possibility for more X-class flares in the days and weeks ahead.“We are nearing the peak of the 11-year solar cycle, and this peak is stronger than the last peak 11 years ago, so it makes sense that these solar storms we are experiencing have the potential to reach levels we