This info is sent to me from SOHO. It is a free App called 3D Sun. It is very non technical but with photos and simple explanations so you get the gest of what is currently happening.
We have two orbiting satellites around the Sun, these two are are offset by 180 degrees so they can follow the sun on both the light and dark side so we have a 360 degree information. The sunspot numbers are assigned like flight number, they are informational only for location information.
They do this becaus the sun continues to produce flares, coronal holes, CME's ( coronal mass ejections ). We try to correlate this information for possible effects on Earth. This year the sun is in its most active phase, based on an eleven year cycle.
Depending on IF the ejection ( and what type it is ) is pointed towards Earth it can have anything from pleasant results ( as the Aurora Borialis ) or under a worse case incident, a very strong CME can and has disrupted our earths magnetic field with potentially grave consequences for our power grid.
If you know about the effects of an atomic bomb explosion, the power released is called an EMP ( electronic magnetic pulse ). Depending on the strength of the pulse, it simply FRIES anything electrical, computer chips, cell phones etc. The sun is simply the biggest atomic bomb ever, so if it spits out an EMP in our direction we can be in deep do do.
Hope this helps some. Questions welcome. Thank you Cohibasurfer and Bigbear for your input.
