Unusual solar flare could disrupt satellites, communication and power on Earth
AN unusual solar flare observed by a NASA space observatory could cause some disruptions to satellites, communications and power on Earth over the next day or so, officials say.
An eruption of similar magnitude on the Sun has not been witnessed since 2006, according to the National Weather Service.
"The Sun unleashed an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare with a substantial coronal mass ejection (CME) on June 7 that is visually spectacular," NASA's solar dynamics observatory said in a statement.
"The large cloud of particles mushroomed up and fell back down looking as if it covered an area of almost half the solar surface."
The flare peaked at 3.41pm AEST yesterday.
However, since the eruption was not pointed directly at Earth, the effects were expected to remain "fairly small," NASA said.
The National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center described it as a "dramatic eruption" that was expected to cause G1 (minor) to G2 (moderate) levels of Geomagnetic Storm activity, beginning around 4am AEST.
"The Solar Radiation Storm includes a significant contribution of high energy (100 MeV) protons, the first such occurrence of an event of that type since December 2006."
The resulting geomagnetic storm could cause some disruption in power grids, satellites that operate global positioning systems and other devices, and may lead to some rerouting of flights over the polar regions, a spokesman said.
