VIDEO: Powerful Eruption on the Sun; Magnetic Storm to Pass by Earth

On February 6, a powerful M-class eruption occurred on the Sun, producing a solar mass ejection that caused widespread radio disruptions across the southern Pacific Ocean regions. The cosmic storm affected Australia and Southeast Asian countries, according to reports from spaceweather.com.

Sailors and radio operators in the area noticed that signals below 30 MHz disappeared and did not recover for up to an hour following the peak of the eruption. The radio interference was attributed to a strong burst of X-ray and ultraviolet radiation that reached Earth eight minutes after the solar flare.

This radiation ionized the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, the sunlit portion. Additionally, the Sun ejected a massive amount of solar plasma traveling at over 400 kilometers per hour. If it reaches Earth, it could cause disturbances in the magnetic field and disrupt satellite operations, as well as create auroras in higher latitudes.

However, according to astronomers, this ejection does not pose a threat to our planet, as it occurred closer to the southern pole of the Sun, so the plasma cloud is almost certain to bypass Earth.