As Americans and their families head into Thanksgiving week, the Sun is getting in on the act by showing off several huge sunspot groups that are candidates for solar flares over the next few days. In addition to the SOHO and Spaceweather.com websites for updates on geomagnetic activity and aurora forecasts, you can also surf over to Space Weather Now.

These sites are your best sources for “up to the minute” space weather information. Here’s what Spaceweather.com has to say on Sunday, November 23, 2003:

SOLAR OUTLOOK: Big sunspot 488 has a complex “beta-delta-gamma” magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Any explosions from the active region this week would be Earth-directed, which raises the possibility of more solar storms and auroras in the days ahead.

And, over at Space Weather Now you can check out the size of the auroral ovals. Here’s an example of a North Pole auroral oval on Sunday, November 23.