Are you bored with all the recent coverage of the unusually low temperatures sweeping the nation? Well, you can now relax by knowing that a giant solar flare is going to be hitting the Earth today.
The AP reported on Tuesday that a significant solar flare is being blamed for disrupting a NASA mission and may cause some airlines to have to reroute some of their flights. On the upside of things this solar flare could result in expanding the aurora borealis much further south.
The AP reports: “Federal space weather forecaster Joe Kunches said the sun shot out a strong solar flare late Tuesday, which should arrive at Earth early Thursday. It should shake up Earth’s magnetic field and expand the aurora borealis south, possibly as far south as Colorado and central Illinois. He said best viewing would probably be Thursday evening, weather permitting.”
Before everyone gets any ideas of global disaster this solar flare won’t have any direct harm to human beings. Sure, it might disrupt your GPS and interfere with your radio but, no, you’re not going to be directly at risk.
NASA says that Tuesday’s flare “was also associated with a coronal mass ejection, or CME, another solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later. These particles cannot travel through the atmosphere to harm humans on Earth, but they can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.”
So if you’re in an area where you can glimpse the Northern Lights now might be a good time to check out your weather information system to locate the best place to go watch.