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Nasa warns over likely hit on GPS systems and flights by space storm
The Earth is bracing for the biggest space weather storm in five years, as huge explosions on the sun’s surface are sparking radiation and geomagnetic storm likely to impact power grids, GPS systems, satellites and airline flights.
The Earth is bracing for the biggest space weather storm in five years
The biggest in five years, the space weather storm is expected to hit Earth early Thursday (American time) and continue on Friday according to the US space agency.
Nasa also warned that the storm may disrupt power grids, GPS systems and satellites. Some airlines have already changed their routes around the polar regions.
Nasa said the storm was caused by two solar flares that erupted on Sunday. Following the flares, two bursts of solar wind and plasma were thrust towards the Earth.
The first burst - according to the US space agency - is travelling faster than 1,300 miles per second. The second burst is at more than 1,100 miles per second.
"Space weather has gotten very interesting over the past 24 hours,""said Joseph Kunches, a space weather scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The solar flares alone caused brief high frequency radio blackouts that have now passed, according to NOAA .
The storm is likely to be "the strongest one since December 2006", Kunches said.
"But en masse, if you put it all together with the geomagnetic effects and the solar radiation effects, I would put it on par with one at the end of the last solar cycle, which was over five years ago."
