DE ZON / THE SUN
MAJOR FLARE:
Earth-orbiting satellites detected a major X9-class solar flare
this morning at 1035 UT (5:35 a.m. EST).
The source:
big, new sunspot 930, which is emerging over the Sun's eastern limb.
GOES-13 captured this X-ray image of the blast: 
Because of the sunspot's location near the limb, the flare was not Earth-directed. Future eruptions could be, however, because the Sun's spin is turning the spot toward Earth. Sunspot 930 will be visible for the next two weeks as it glides across the solar disk.
SUNSPOT 904:
Bipolar sunspot 904 hasn't actually erupted, not in a big way, but it is crackling with promise. "The two giant spots look like whirlpools of gasoline," says photographerLarry Alvarez of Flower Mound, Texas. He took this picture on August 13th:
