Sunspot producing more northern lights

A huge sunspot has been bombarding Earth with magnetic clouds for weeks, producing some of the most visible summertime northern lights in years, according to NASA scientists.

A photographer from North Pole, Alaska, who signed an e-mail message as “Santa,” posted a photo of greenish northern lights on the University of Alaska’s Geophysical Institute’s online aurora forum.

The green light shown in the photo came from Sunspot 798, which sent a magnetic cloud toward Earth at more than a million miles per hour.

Sunspots are enormous splotches formed by the sun’s magnetic field. As they explode, they produce flares and propel charged particles and radiation into space.

The sun is supposed to be in the quiet phase of its 11-year cycle, with sunspot activity close to minimum, but so far this year there have been four severe geomagnetic storms and 15 extreme flares.