Possible solar disruption

Fears of disruption as solar storm strikes the Earth
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The Earth is being battered by a storm of charged particles from the Sun, which could disrupt power grids, satellite navigation and plane routes.
This solar storm is the largest in five years - and will bombard the Earth's magnetic field throughout Thursday.
It was triggered by a pair of strong solar flares earlier this week.
The storm was predicted to peak in the afternoon UK time, but experts warn that the Sun's surface is still active and could trigger further storms.
Activity near the Sun's surface rises and falls through an11-year cycle that is due to peak in 2013 or 2014.
Some solar flares result in what is known as a coronal mass ejection (CME) - the launch of a huge bubble of charged particles hurtling toward the Earth at speeds up to millions of kilometres per hour.
As the Sun's activity has risen in recent months, more such CMEs have occurred.
The Earth's magnetic field protects it from the constant onslaught of high-energy particles from the Sun and elsewhere in the cosmos.
However, the solar storms that mark the arrival of CMEs can disrupt the field enough to have an effect on the Earth's surface - causing current spikes in power grids or disrupting navigation devices.
Among the more benign effects is that the magnetic field disturbance can make the Northern Lights may be visible at lower latitudes.
But it is often unclear, even up to the last minute, just how grave or spectacular the effects will be on Earth.


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