Here comes the sun: sunspot AR1476 that is

Little darlin' here comes the sun...and I say, It's all right...

News about Sunspot AR 1476coming into view and now faces earth--

"With at least four dark cores larger than Earth, the sprawling active region is one of the largest sunspots in years. Moreover, it has a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Any eruptions in the days ahead could be Earth-directed as the sunspot turns to face our planet. Sunspot AR1476 is so large, people are noticing it without the aide of a solar telescope. The behemoth appears at sunrise and sunset when the light of the low-hanging sun is occasionally dimmed to human visibility. Alberto Lao sends this picture from Manila, the Phillippines:"

source spaceweather.com

There are several classes of flares. "A solar flare is an explosion on the Sun that happens when energy stored in twisted magnetic fields (usually above sunspots) is suddenly released. Flares produce a burst of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays. Scientists classify solar flares according to their x-ray brightness in the wavelength range 1 to 8 Angstroms. There are 3 categories: X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare. Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth." (source).

Now that you've seen the sunspot and read about what they are, here is a news excerpt explaining it in laymen's language:

Huge sunspot forebodes major flares
"An enormous sunspot observed on the sun over the weekend may portend problematic solar activity, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report. The cool area of the sun known as AR1476, which contains multiple sunspots big enough to see with even basic astronomy equipment, displayed complex beta-gamma magnetic fields as it passed within view of the Earth on May 6th. A sunspot is a temporary area of relatively cooled plasma on the surface of the sun. The group of sunspots that appeared on Sunday were massive, with four individual zones larger than the Earth itself and a complete length of over 100,000 kilometers. The same region of the sun is currently experiencing major solar flare activity, and stronger than usual flares are expected to hit the Earth between May 9th and May 11th."

This article's conclusion is pretty interesting:

"Scientists are keeping a close watch [on this sunspot group] over the next several years. Some are equating these solar phenomena with the so called Mayan Calendar. Some irresponsible people are proposing that an ancient calendar predicts the end of the world and connects the Sun with this prophecy. This is the kind of problem scientists are trying to avoid. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and the Earth will just keep on going along as it’s always done."

Their last statement is wrong on two counts. First, they make an assumption that the earth has always gone along as it has always done. It has not. There was a global flood, you know. Secondly they make the assumption that the earth will always go along like it has, and it won't. It will end. (Matthew 24:35). However, it is correct to say that the Mayan prophecy predicting the end of the world is irresponsible. I agree, it is irresponsible to say that. Only the biblical prophecies are trustworthy because they come from an unimpeachable source: God. If a prophecy is from any other source it's a #fail, because only God knows the future. All that false prophecy does is make mockers out of disbelievers and makes disbelievers out of the curious. And that is a very irresponsible thing to do.

One last thing to consider. There is a prophecy that says people will scoff at prophecy and deny it. Look at 2 Peter 3:3-5:

"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." [emphasis mine] Doesn't that sound exactly like the conclusion of the news article above? The more they scoff, deny, and mock the prophecies, the more the prophecy is being fulfilled.