The most powerful solar storm in more than two decades hit Earth on Friday, causing spectacular skylight shows in skies from Tasmania to Britain – and threatening possible disruptions to satellites and power grids if it continues into the weekend.
The first of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – expulsions of the Sun’s plasma and magnetic fields – occurred just after 1600 Greenwich Mean Time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center.
It was later upgraded to an ‘extreme’ geomagnetic storm – the first since the so-called Halloween storms of October 2003 caused power outages in Sweden and damaged electricity infrastructure in South Africa. More CMEs are expected to ravage the planet in the coming days.
