Powerful magnetic storm will cover Earth - storm will last for several days
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced that a powerful magnetic storm is approaching the Earth due to solar flares.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by AP.
For the first time in almost 20 years, NOAA has issued a warning about a rare geomagnetic storm, which will be in effect from Friday and throughout the weekend.
The agency said that since Wednesday, the Sun has experienced strong flares, leading to five plasma eruptions that could disable satellites in orbit and power grids on Earth.
Each eruption - known as a coronal mass ejection - can contain billions of tonnes of solar plasma.
NOAA calls this event unusual, pointing out that the flares are associated with a sunspot that is 16 times the diameter of the Earth.
As Ukrinform reported, the Main Centre for Special Control in November said that the aurora borealis observed in Ukraine was caused by a powerful geomagnetic storm.