Sunspots here they come

Spaceweather http://spaceweather.com reports a big sunspot or group, known at 1045, has produced three M-class and about a dozen C-class solar flares since it appeared on Saturday 6 February.

Sunspots are areas on the sun with intense magnetic activity which are cooler than the surrounding solar surface.

Around the world radio amateurs are observing strong solar radio burst on the HF bands as a result of beams of electrons from the activity.

Ionospheric propagation is expected to receive a boost for a couple of days. And good news is that the next, Sunspot 1046, is now coming into view - hoorah for cycle 24 which is expected to peak sometime in 2013.