The sun unleashed an unusually powerful solar flare yesterday, the largest in nearly five years.
The eruption launched a ten billion ton storm cloud hurtling through space at five million miles per hour.
Scientists said the event took place on the side of the sun that was not facing Earth, so there will be little impact to satellites and communication systems.
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SOLAR FLARE ‘TO HIT BRITAIN’
An enormous solar flare expected to hit Britain could blow out the national grid leaving the entire country without electricity, scientists warned in June.
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is considering a raft of options to protect electricity supplies including switching off the national grid entirely, causing temporary blackouts.
It is believed that as the sun reaches a peak in activity over the next two years, it could unleash a ‘class 5’ flare, which might knock out computer systems and even throw satellites off course.
Scientists believe the flare would be up to five times more powerful than one which hit Quebec in 1989 and left six million people without power.
The initial blast from the solar flare could reach Earth in a matter of minutes. This would be followed by a second, potentially more dangerous wave of energy which would take up to three days to arrive.
It means the Government would have enough time to implement a contingency plan.
This could include switching off the electricity network entirely and ensuring planes are flown at lower altitudes in order to reduce their exposure to radiation.
Joe Kunches at the U.S. government’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado said there were reports of brief short-wave radio disruptions in Asia, but little else.
He said: ‘We lucked out because the site of the eruption at the sun was not facing the Earth, so we will probably feel no ill-effects.’
The image was captured by Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in extreme ultraviolet light at 131 Angstroms.
The sun is transitioning from a quiet period into a busier cycle. Scientists estimate there will be a spike in the number of such solar eruptions over the next three to five years.
The last time there was such a strong solar flare was in December 2006.