AND IF THAT’S NOT ENOUGH, THE SUN’S ABOUT TO KNOCK OUT OUR ELECTRICS
HIGH-TECH electrical circuits around the world could short out and aeroplanes could PLUMMET from the skies – thanks to a massive solar storm bombarding the earth with huge amounts of energy.
The biggest solar storm since 2005 has engulfed the sun – sending billions of tons of highly-charged particles heading the 93 million miles to our planet.
Astronomers have warned the storm could affect airline routes, power grids and satellites, with the worst of the storm likely to hit the Earth’s northern hemisphere.
Spacemen on the International Space Station have been ordered to pull on special radiation suits to prevent the storm of Sun particles BOILING their blood.
U.S. space weather monitors said the rush of radiation in the form of solar protons began late on Sunday and was likely to continue until later this week.
Scientists say the coronal mass ejection – a violent and spectacular release of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun – has been hurtling towards Earth at an incredible FIVE MILLION miles an hour.
Dr Terry Onsager, from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s American Space Weather Prediction Centre, in Boulder, Colorado, said: “When it hits us, it’s like a big battering ram that pushes into Earth’s magnetic field.
“That energy causes the Earth’s magnetic field to fluctuate.”
Dr Onsager said energy can also wreck navigation systems used by planes flying over the North Pole.
It could also crash power grids and fry delicate electronic circuits in satellites, leading to blackouts of TVS and sensitive medical equipment.
A spokesman for the Panic First, Ask Questions Later organisation, based in Manchester, said: “I’m bricking it!”