Just last Wednesday a huge solar flare erupted out of the sun. And now it’s heading towards Earth. There’s not too much to worry about when it comes to solar flares. It sounds rather ominous but according to Tom Berger, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, “solar storms happen often, especially during peaks in the solar cycle, and don’t directly harm people. But what makes this one more worrisome is its location on the sun along with its strength.” He went on to add that “it’s been several years since Earth has had a solar storm of this size coming from sunspots smack in the middle of the sun.”
According to Berger, “because it’s pointed right at us, we’ll at least catch some of the cloud of highly energized and magnetized plasma that can disrupt Earth’s magnetic sphere, which sometimes leads to temporary power grid problems.”
Researchers don’t exactly know when the solar flare will reach Earth or which side of the planet will be affected. They speculate that the bulk of it could be here as early as today or in a few more days. The first part of the flare has already affected satellites and radio transmissions but scientists will know more once they get in some initial findings from satellites.
On a plus side, this solar flare will cause an expansion to the Northern Lights which will help people further south see them.