A CME (corneal mass ejection) was propelled toward Earth
by the M7-class
solar flare of April 18th is still en route to our planet. Forecast
models predict an arrival on April 20th with a 75% chance of polar
geomagnetic storms after it hits. The Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory captured this image of the storm cloud billowing away
from the sun at ~1000 km/s (2.2 million mph)! Earth would be in the direction of the bottom of the image.
While the effects of this event will be mild, a class X flare aimed at earth could result in trillions of dollars in damage to our power grid and take close to a decade to restore! Think of such an evetn as an instant ticket back to the Dark Ages!
