SPACE weather experts have their eye on a mysterious solar flare.
The flare is said to be a coronal mass ejection that erupted from the Sun on June 26.
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A coronal mass ejection is also referred to as a CME.
It’s a huge expulsion of plasma from the Sun’s outer layer, called the corona.
Space scientists aren’t sure whether the solar flare will hit Earth but predict it has a chance on either June 28 or June 29.
The experts at SpaceWeather.com explained: “There is a chance of minor geomagnetic storms on June 28th and 29th when CMEs might sideswipe or even directly hit Earth’s magnetic field.
“This is a low confidence forecast. A confusing mishmash of overlapping CMEs left the sun in recent days, especially on June 26th, and it has been difficult to determine their trajectories.”
The strength of the potential solar storm has not been estimated.
Even a small solar storm can cause weak power grid fluctuations and have a small impact on our tech.
They can impact satellite communications.
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Solar flares are also known to cause radio blackouts.
Solar storms can also confuse migrating animals that rely on the Earth’s magnetic field for a sense of direction.
In 1989, a strong solar eruption shot so many electrically charged particles at Earth that the Canadian Province of Quebec lost power for nine hours.
As well as causing issues for our tech on Earth, they can be deadly for an astronaut if they result in injury or interfere with mission control communications.
