Strong Solar Flare headed our way.

A Coronal Mass Ejection or CME for short is heading directly for Earth, and it is expected to absorb another lesser CME before reaching earth. Its supposed to arrive on June 22nd. A CME is like the sun burping a huge gulp of solar radiation.  The combination of both CME's will likely produce polar geomagnetic storms and high-latitude auroras.

Typically, an ejection of this magnitude could cause satellite outages and cell phone dropped calls. Fortunately, most major satellite agencies can move the satellites and use the earth as a shield to protect them.

Our planet has its own shield called the magnetosphere, it protects us from these sort of eruptions, and in turn it provides auroras at the poles.


The following update is from Spaceweather.com:




SEVERE GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS:
A severe G4-class geomagnetic storm is in progress on June 22nd. This follows a series of rapid-fire CME strikes to Earth's magnetic field during the past 24 hours. Magnetic fields in the wake of the latest CME are strongly coupled to Earth's own magnetic field. This is a condition that could sustain the geomagnetic storm for many hours to come. High- and mid-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras tonight, especially during the hours around local midnight.