Powerful Solar Flare Today, Coronal Mass Ejection To Hit Earth Within Hours

Categories: Solar Flare Sun

Powerful Solar Flare Today, Coronal Mass Ejection To Hit Earth Within Hours

According to the National Weather Service Space Weather Prediction Center, a powerful solar radiation storm that began early this morning has continued to rise very slowly throughout the day but has remained at the S3 (Strong) level.

The solar radiation should be at or near its peak and is expected to begin to decrease soon.

NOAA and NASA are still awaiting the arrival of the Coronal Mass Ejection which is still expected to bombard the Earth at about 9am EST (1400 GMT) on Tuesday.

The Solar Weather Prediction Center’s forecast is for Moderate (G2) level geomagnetic storming with G3 levels possible.

Many apocalyptic predictions call for doomsday to occur in 2012. The most specific apocalypse is predicted for December 21, 2012 based on the Mayan calendar. Other 2012 doomsday predictions are derived from Biblical, astrological, or Nostradamus interpretations.

But should we be concerned about solar storms in 2012? Heliophysicist Alex Young from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center sorts out truth from fiction.

Above image credit: NASA/SOHO