Huge solar flair explosion could take out power grids, internet and satellites
A huge ball of dark “cannibal plasma” is hurtling towards Earth – and will hit it within the next 24 hours.
The dark plasma explosion was first picked up by experts on Sunday (August 14) having blasted out from the Sun's surface.
Travelling at around 1.3 million mph, it actually blew a hole in the Sun's atmosphere, according to spaceweather.com.
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This worrying explosion, was followed by another almost-identical burst of plasma around 24-hours later.
The plasma balls will meet up and create a cannibal plasma during its journey to earth – and when it hits the planet, it will create a huge geomagnetic storm, according to the Space Weather Predication Centre.
It is not yet clear exactly where it will hit or at what time, although it will probably be somewhere in the United States based on current predictions, and the effects of the impact could be devastating.
A storm such as this could take out power grids, satellites and Internet communications – it could even hit the famous Aurora Borealis.
Astronomer Tony Phillips said: “The thing is, the latter blast looks to be moving faster than Sunday’s dark plasma projectile and may overtake it on the way, a phenomena that some space weather observers call a ‘cannibal CME.
“In other words, the second CME might overtake and gobble up the first, creating a mish-mash of the two.
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“The storm has the potential to drive the aurora further away from its normal polar residence, and if other factors come together, the aurora might be seen over the far Northeast, to the far upper Midwest, across portions of the north-central states, and perhaps over the North West section of Washington state.
“The intensity of events like these is expected to build, perhaps with destructive consequences for our largely unprotected satellite and electrical infrastructure.”
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