Sun shoots off huge flare directed towards Earth

Washington: NASA has captured the image of a particularly wide Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME) or flare, erupting from the Sun and spewing billions of tonnes of solar particles. Experimental NASA research models estimate that the CME, travelling around 1,120 km per second, reached the Earth on Saturday. CMEs of these speeds are usually benign.

CMEs are a phenomenon that can send billions of tonnes of solar particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later, affecting electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.

The CME is a fairly small solar flare, measured as C-class, a third in strength after X and M-class flares, according to a NASA statement. Similar CMEs, in the past, have caused auroras near the poles but have not disrupted the electrical systems or significantly interfered with GPS or satellite-based communications systems.

The image captured by NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is of particularly wide flare, whose leading edge appears to wrap around over half of the entire sun as it moves out into space.