The biggest solar storm in years is battering the planet

[scanhorse]

Published: March. 8, 2012 at 1:41 AM

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WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- A massive solar storm hurtling toward Earth at 4 million mph threatened to disrupt airline flights and power grids early Thursday, NASA officials said.
Analysts at NASA's Goddard Space Weather Lab said the stream of highly charged particles, stemming from the largest solar flare in five years, "could spark a strong-to-severe geomagnetic storm" starting between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. EST Thursday, SpaceWeather.com reported.
The effects could linger through Friday morning.


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http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/03/08/Huge-solar-storm-risks-flights-power-GPS/UPI-36561331188886/

[scanhorse]

The biggest solar storm in years is battering the planet

The biggest solar storm in five years is battering our planet right now, and may cause disruptions to satellites, power grids and communications networks over the next 24 hours, space weather experts say.

Two strong solar flares erupted from the surface of the sun late Tuesday, blasting a wave of plasma and charged particles toward Earth. This eruption of material — called a coronal mass ejection, or CME — sped through space at 4 million mph (6.4 million kilometers per hour).

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46664100/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.T1ikAXmwZDs

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0308/solar.html