SOLAR ACTIVITY UPDATE: Earth Directed CME and an M1.6-Flare from AR-1618 (Nov 21st, 2012)

ANOTHER FAST-GROWING SUNSPOT: The sunspot number is increasing again. During the past 36 hours, active region AR1618 has more than quadrupled in size. It now has more than a dozen dark cores scattered across an expanse of stellar surface more than 10 times wider than Earth. Sunspot AR1618 has a beta-gamma magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. http://www.spaceweather.com