Earth is set to be hit by a powerful solar flare, raising fears of a possible radio blackout.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy, which can affect radio communications, electric power grids, and navigation signals.
The flare erupted on Thursday in the middle of the Sun’s visible surface, triggering a halo coronal mass ejection (CME), which sends a plume of plasma out of the Sun.
Nasa classified the flare as an X9.0 flare, denoting the most intense category of flare.
In a warning, the US Space Weather Prediction Centre said a flare of this magnitude was “generally not common” and could cause disruption to communication systems.
It said the flare could cause “immediate, wider area of strong degradation or signal loss in high frequency (HF) communication bands over much of the sunlit side of Earth.
Radio users may also experience “loss of contact or major disruptions for a number of minutes to a couple of hours in the affected areas.”
It added: “Solar flares of this magnitude can be impulsive (meaning quick to rise and decrease) lasting some minutes, or last a few hours.”
The eruption of plasma and magnetic particles is expected to peak at around 4pm today,
Forecasters said the phenomenon meant the Northern Lights may make an appearance over the UK over the next couple of nights.
The auroras are caused when the geomagnetic storm interacts with the Earth’s atmosphere, creating beautiful lights.
The lights may be seen from parts of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland in the coming days, the Met Office said.
"Over the next couple of days, there's a chance that we could be seeing the Northern Lights, particularly across northern parts of Scotland in the north of England and Northern Ireland," the Met Office’s Krista Hammond said.
"This is because there's the potential to see the arrival of a geomagnetic storm."
Last month, the Northern Lights were seen as far south as the Sussex coast. Some Londoners also saw the spectacular light show across the night skies in spring.
Scientists said the increased occurrences were as a result of a heightened period of solar storms in recent months.
