Region 12192 Biggest in 2 Solar Cycles (Updated)

Active Region 12192 is the largest region since November 18, 1990, a full two solar cycles ago.  To see what we might expect, we took a look back at the region from 1990 (Region 6368).  At its largest, region 6368 was about 10% larger than region 12192.  During its entire transit across the Earth facing side of the Sun, region 6368 did not produce any R3 or larger Radio Blackouts (X-class flares).  Already, region 12192 has surpassed that region in term of production of significant solar flares.  The full tally, keeping in mind that region 12192 has about 2 more days before rotating to the far side of the sun, is given in the table below.

*Through mid-day October 27.

Image courtesy of the NASA SDO HMI team.