A tempest of radiation on the Sun is likely to cause a strong geomagnetic storm around Earth on March 8th and 9th. Two more powerful X class flares have been observed flashing forth from the active sunspot cluster numbered AR1429.
One of the flares was classified as an X5.4 event, by far the intense seen this year.
A prediction of the solar wind shows the Earth directly in the path of plasma cloud wave-front emanating from this cluster and associated with these flares which generated a coronal mass ejection or CME
Systems managers will be on the lookout for interference in communication satellites, GPS, radars and long metal telecom cables. But we can also look forward to the possibility of bright auroras over the next few nights.
For SPACE.com, I’m Dave Brody
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The most intense solar flare seen this year is likely to herald a strong geomagnetic storm around Earth on March 8th and 9th 2012, as sunspot cluster AR1429 continues to blast coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
Credit: SPACE.com / SDO / SOHO / NASA Goddard Space Weather Lab