“An eruption on the Sun a few days ago produced a Coronal Mass Ejection that is now showing its effects on the Earth’s magnetic field. Things like GPS operations and radio communication between planes and air traffic controllers are left vulnerable to this type of solar activity, and it’s understood that ‘moderate disruptions’ are now presenting themselves across the world: SANSA, based in the town of Hermanus, Western Cape, issued an alert via a written statement on Tuesday. Latest solar flare ‘may disrupt technology in SA’ A G2 storm has been caused by an eruption on the sun, which is set to alter the geomagnetic conditions above Earth. Even then, it constitutes just one-tenth of the Sun’s total energy.Ī flare's harmful radiation cannot penetrate through Earth's atmosphere to harm humans on the ground, but they can disrupt the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals flow if they are strong enough.The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) has warned that a ‘solar flare event’ could disrupt communications and mess with satellite positioning systems this week. NASA claims that the energy released by this explosion is equivalent to millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs going off at the same time. These radiations comprise of radio waves, x-rays, and gamma rays. The storm is being compared to the 1859 Carrington Event, when a geomagnetic storm disrupted telegraph operations for many days.Ī solar flare is a rapid and intense explosion on the Sun’s surface which happens in the aftermath of massive amounts of energy which is stored in magnetic fields being released suddenly.Īs the explosion happens, radiation is released into the universe, directly affecting the planets in our solar system. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through the Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however - when intense enough - they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel,' the caption for the video read. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. 28, the biggest of these released a significant flare, which peaked at 11:35 a.m. 'Meanwhile, the Sun was sporting more active regions at its lower center, directly facing Earth. 25 through mid-morning October 26, an active region on the left limb of the Sun 'flickered with a series of small flares and petal-like eruptions of solar material,' wrote NASA Goddard.Īlso read | Explosion on Sun equivalent to millions of hydrogen bombs causes biggest solar flare in 4 years 25-28 that ended with a significant solar flare.

'This imagery captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory covers a busy few days of activity between Oct.