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Massive solar flare to hit Earth, power grids could be disrupted POST WIRE SERVICES Last Updated: 12:45 PM, February 17, 2011 Posted: 11:12 AM, February 17, 2011 A powerful solar flare exploded over the sun on Monday -- and we may all feel its effects today. The particles unleashed from the sun's eruption four days ago has been hitting the Earth's atmosphere, although it's biggest effect is expected to be felt over the next 24 hours, National Geographic reported on its website. The flares -- the biggest in four years -- are already being blamed for disrupting radio communication in China and could trigger blackouts around the world. The sun's "explosive reconnections" release huge amounts of energy as heat, measuring roughly 35 million degrees Fahrenheit, according to physicist Dean Pesnell, project scientist for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. "It won't hit us dead-on," said Pesnell. However, strong activity is expected in the form of auroras -- the southern and northern lights, which occur when atoms above Earth's gain energy from solar charged particles, then release it as light. The US Space Weather Prediction Center forecasts a 30 percent chance of auroras as far south as Washington, DC and stargazers should look for a reddish glow to light up the night sky, the website reported. Monday's explosion doesn't compare to the giant blasts of the early 2000s. That most recent active period spawned the biggest solar flare on ever directly measured in November 2003, a blast more than ten times as powerful as Monday's. In 1973, a magnetic storm from a solar flare caused 6 million people to lose electricity in Canada. With AFP Read more at www.nypost.com

 

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