A huge solar eruption may have sent magnetized plasma hurtling towards Earth.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft captured footage of the massive solar eruption on Tuesday, September 2. The video shows a rippling blast of plasma being projected from the face of the Sun. And Space.com cautions that debris from the solar explosion could be heading in Earth’s direction.
Spaceweather.com describes: “Yesterday, Sept. 2nd, an enormous filament of dark plasma, which had been snaking across the face of the sun for days, became unstable and erupted . . . A CME emerging from the blast site appears to have an Earth-directed component.”
Additional observations are needed in order to determine if the eruption was, indeed, a coronal mass ejection (CME) headed toward Earth. Space.com explains that CMEs “can occasionally spark geomagnetic storms when they collide with Earth. These disturbances can interfere with electronics, cause radio blackouts and produce stunning auroras.”
If a CME is en route for Earth, scientists estimate it will hit Earth's magnetic field on September 6. But nobody is too concerned. The CME, if that is what it turns out to be, isn’t projected to be a very powerful one.
