Compiled SDO/AIA image of the July 12 X-class flare

As you read this, a huge cloud of charged solar particles is speeding toward our planet, a coronal mass ejection resulting from an X1.4-class flare that erupted from sunspot 1520 on July 12. The CME is expected to collide with Earth’s magnetic field just after 6 a.m. EDT Saturday, potentially affecting satellite operations and tripping alarms on power grids, as well as boosting auroral activity. (And this may not be the last we see from this sunspot, either.)

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