Just in time for Halloween
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Get ready, baby.
I'm just warming up:
On Thursday (Oct. 28), the sun ejected a massive solar flare, the most powerful storm of our star’s current weather cycle.
According to the US Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), which tracks space weather events, the sun produced an X1-class solar flare, the most powerful type of flare. It peaked at 11:35 a.m. EDT (1535 GMT).
The flare caused a temporary but significant radio blackout across the sunlit side of Earth, centered on South America. The solar eruption was dubbed a “significant solar flare” by NASA officials, who added that it was captured on real-time video by the space agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
According to SpaceWeather.com, a coronal mass ejection from the flare, a massive eruption of charged particles, could reach Earth by Saturday or Sunday (Oct. 30-31), just in time for Halloween. The eruption has the potential to intensify Earth’s northern lights and disrupt satellite-based communications.
“POW! The sun just served up a powerful flare,” NASA officials wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of the flare.
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Note to self: print out and bring google paper maps for Sunday trip. GPS probably won't know where I am.
