A violent explosion has occurred on the Sun: Here is the moment of the blast!

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced that a very violent explosion has occurred on the Sun.

The American agency, which has gone on alert for the first time since January 2005 due to a severe geomagnetic storm, stated that it could disrupt electronic devices such as GPS and parts of power grids. It also noted that a large part of the country could be covered by a ring of light due to the storm. Before the warning, a series of solar flares had occurred on Wednesday, during which numerous large plasma ejections from the Sun were detected.

COMMUNICATION DISRUPTIONS MAY OCCUR

In the emergency warning, it was written that “The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), a division of NOAA’s National Weather Service, is monitoring the Sun following a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that began on May 8.” Subsequently, a “Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch” was issued for Friday evening.

“Geomagnetic storms can affect infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on the Earth's surface,” the statement continued, noting that the storm could negatively impact communications; it was stated that it could potentially disrupt power grids, navigation, and radio and satellite operations. Furthermore, officials wrote, “The SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so that they can take protective measures.”

AURORAS MAY BE VISIBLE

The potential storm's more natural side effects were described as follows:

“Geomagnetic storms can also trigger spectacular auroras on Earth. A severe geomagnetic storm includes the potential for auroras to be seen as far south as Alabama and Northern California.”

The predicted storm was rated as ‘G4’, which means severe. And it was noted that such a warning was last issued in January 2005. The storm, consisting of energetic protons, hit Earth just 15 minutes later and caused a high-frequency burst. This indicated the presence of numerous energetic electrons in very strong magnetic fields. The explosion, which occurred in the blink of an eye, shocked the scientific world with the highest radiation dose measured in fifty years and disabled radiation monitors across the entire planet within minutes.

Officials stated that the U.S. would likely be affected by this storm.

Here is that moment when the solar flare occurred: