The Sun on the 13th of November 2025

 

Sunspot Groups - 4234, 4235,4236 and 4237.
Seestar S30. Captured from the JPO
on the 13 Nov 2025 in a 1 minute video clip
stacked and cropped using PIPP, AS!3 and Affinity Photo software
Image Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" The weather continues poor in Lowestoft, so astro imagery has been more a novelty rather than routine at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Kurt has also been a bit unwell, so his usual driving enthusiasm for getting outside in the cold at the dead of night has been somewhat diminished.

We did have a brief opportunity to image the sun in white light using the Observatory's Seestar S30 robotic telescope and camera. The Sun was very low on our southern horizon and surrounded by wispy high level cloud". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.  

"Sunspots are surface expressions of intense magnetic flux tubes that have risen from the solar interior. The Sun’s outer convective layer continuously churns hot plasma and, because the Sun rotates faster at the equator than at the poles (differential rotation), magnetic field lines are stretched, twisted and sheared. When magnetic field lines become sufficiently concentrated and buoyant, they pierce the photosphere as paired regions of opposite polarity; where the magnetic field is strongest convection is suppressed and the photosphere cools locally, producing the darker sunspots we observe.

Sunspot groups (active regions) often contain many individual spots, penumbrae and surrounding bright plages; the most flare-productive regions have complex magnetic topologies (for example a βγδ classification), where strong opposite polarities are tightly intermingled. Rapid reconfiguration of those stressed magnetic fields — magnetic reconnection — releases huge amounts of energy as solar flares and can launch coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

We’re seeing a lot of activity right now because the Sun is near the maximum phase of Solar Cycle 25 (the 11-year solar cycle). During solar maximum the global solar dynamo produces more and larger magnetic flux concentrations, so the disk shows many more active regions and complex sunspot groups. In November 2025, AR 4274 has been especially prolific — producing multiple X-class flares and CMEs that pushed space weather to R3 (strong) and geomagnetic watches (G3–G4 levels). That’s exactly what you’d expect during a cycle peak: frequent, powerful flares and enhanced chances for geomagnetic storms and aurora". - Karl Segin outreach officer at the JPO.

Sunspots on November 11, 2025.
Credit: NASA SDO/HMI