That big sunspot that SoHo spotted a few days ago has given birth to a healthy solar flare:

(Space.com) A powerful solar flare that erupted Thursday (Nov. 3) from a huge blemish on the sun’s surface has been classified as an X1.9 flare, ranking it in among the most powerful types of storms from our star can unleash. The flare originated in a humongous sunspot that was sighted earlier this week, which ranks as one of the largest sunspots seen in years. The event began at 4:27 p.m. ET (2027 GMT).

I didn’t see anything about coronal mass ejection headed our way, so I assume this won’t be too big of an issue for fragile communication and energy networks. Nevertheless, solar astronomers will be watching it closely.