SPACE experts are keeping a close eye on another solar flare.
There’s a chance that a huge mass of particles that just erupted from the Sun could hit Earth’s magnetic field today.
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The space experts at SpaceWeather.com explained: “A magnetic filament on the Sun erupted May 7th, hurling a CME into space.
“NOAA analysts say it might deliver a glancing blow to Earth’s magnetic field on May 10th.
“This is a low confidence forecast. Minor geomagnetic storms are possible if/when the CME arrives.”
As the experts point out, there’s still a chance the solar flare won’t hit Earth but a solar storm is possible if it does.
A CME is a type of solar flare called a coronal mass ejection.
It’s a huge expulsion of plasma from the Sun’s outer layer, called the corona.
When solar flares hit Earth’s magnetic field, they can cause geomagnetic storms that affect our satellites and the power grid.
Luckily, today’s potential solar storm should only be minor if it does happen.
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Each solar storm that hits Earth is graded by severity.
Some cause radio blackouts and can pose a threat to astronauts on the ISS.
A minor storm can confuse migrating animals that rely on the Earth’s magnetic field for a sense of direction.
One good thing about solar storms is that they can produce very pretty natural light displays like the northern lights.
Those natural light displays are called auroras and are examples of the Earth’s magnetosphere getting bombarded by the solar wind, which creates pretty green and blue displays.
The Earth’s magnetic field helps to protect us from the more extreme consequences of solar flares.
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.
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