The disk in the center is a mask that blocks out direct sunlight. The sun should place the Earth squarely in its sights this week as it aims its solar ray gun. Astronomers tell terrestrial dwellers not to sweat it too much, despite the fact that solar activity is approaching an 11-year peak. Two large sunspots moving across the surface of the sun are expected to directly face the Earth soon for up to several days, according to solar scientists. Such sunspots often herald powerful coronal mass ejections and solar flares, space storms that can disrupt weather and electrical systems on Earth.
Solar flares are the largest explosions in the solar system.
A typical one can release the energy equivalent of millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at once. Highly charged particles from large flares can overload power grids and damage satellites. In 1989, one space storm knocked out a major power plant in Canada, leaving millions without power for hours. Solar activity generally waxes and wanes during an 11-year cycle and astronomers expect it to peak either this or next year. Like flares, they send streams of highly charged particles, but they also can emit a billion tons of plasma, or ionized gas.