Solar storm to hit Earth
One of the largest solar storms in recent memory is due to hit the Earth, potentially causing massive disruption to power and communications.
A huge cloud of charged particles is expected to cause intense interference with power grids, navigation equipment, radio communication and even mobile phones.
After a week of intense activity a massive flare made up of superheated gas and energy, called a coronal mass ejection, burst from the Sun, space weather scientists have revealed.
The resulting particle cloud is one of the strongest ever detected since scientists first started measuring them 25 years ago. The biggest previous ejections were in 2001 and 1989.
The solar storm could also create an aurora that might be visible in southern Europe.
Paal Brekke, a scientist who works with the SOHO satellite that first detected the blast, said: “People on the ground shouldn’t worry.
“The only thing you should be aware of is that some of the modern equipment – GPS, pager, cellphone – some of these will fail. Most of the time, we can live without them.”
Real time images of the ejection cloud are being shown on the internet.
Similar, smaller flare towards the end of last week caused some disruption on Earth.
