Sunspots are areas of concentrated magnetic energy on the sun. They occur in a predictable pattern. Every 11 years the number of sunspots goes up and then down again. This year, we are near the peak of this sunspot cycle. In years where there are more sunspots, like this year, there are also lots of solar flares.
Solar flares are the biggest explosions in our solar system.
An eruption can release as much energy as millions of hydrogen bombs. The energy for these solar flares comes from the magnetic field of the sun. When the flares explode, this energy blows through our solar system like a stormy wind. Solar winds are also caused by coronal holes. A coronal hole is like a gap in the sun's magnetic field.