Earth braced itself for the worst this evening as the largest solar flare in five years sent charged particles speeding towards us at 600 miles per second.
As the 'X-class' flare - the most powerful of its kind - bombarded our planet's magnetic field for most of the day, it was feared the activity could disrupt power grids, satellite navigation and aeroplane routes. However, no major incidents have so far been reported - but that could still change.
The solar storm - ten times stronger than a normal 'solar wind' - is likely to last through Friday morning, and the region that erupted could still send more blasts our way.
At the height of the flare activity Joe Kunches, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said: 'It's hitting us right in the nose' - calling it the sun's version of 'Super Tuesday'. But he later said his space weather prediction agency might have overestimated the effects of the bombardment.
The sun's activity on March 8, 2012. A strong geomagnetic storm is
racing from the sun towards Earth.
Heading our way! A Nasa handout photo shows the massive
solar flare that could affect power grids, GPS and plane flights -
although no incidents have so far been reported.
The X1 solar flare in a new active region on the sun, region 1429.
It has let loose two M-class flares and one X-class so far. Material
erupted from the sun with each flare, though due to the fact that this
active region is still off to the side of the sun, they will likely have a
weak effect on Earth's magnetosphere.
Restless: The sun is in a period of intense activity that will peak
next year. This Nasa picture was taken today.
Hot stuff: An image acquired by the Solar Dynamics Observatory
today that captures the sunspots with amazing clarity.
This flare was categorized as an X5.4, making it the second largest
flare -- after an X6.9 on August 9, 2011 -- since the sun's activity
segued into a period of relatively low activity called solar minimum
in early 2007.
This extreme ultraviolet wavelength image provided by NASA
provides another look at a solar flare, which could also force airlines
to reroute.
This colour-coded image combines observations made by Nasa in
several extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, highlighting a bright X-class
flare toward the upper left on March 6.
