The sun eruption triggered the most powerful radiation storm since 2005 in a wave of charged particles that is expected to hit our planet Tuesday (Jan. 24) at around 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT), according to experts at the Space Weather Prediction Center, which is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Largest solar flare since 2005 due to hit Earth at 9:00am this morning. What does this mean for YOU? Well, could affect your GPS, Fluxations in the power grid. Those travelling at higher elevations in airplanes could take larger does of Protons and Radiation so some flights are being sent to lower elevations and routes that normally would take a polar route have been rerouted as the most activity is expected in the polar regions of our planet. It can affect satellites forcing them to REBOOT, so that could play havoc with many space systems.
What does this mean for the folks aboard the Space Station? According to NASA who monitors space weather routinely. They will be safe and sound.
Global positioning systems are also affected—and will be even more affected tomorrow. Regular humans will not notice this. You will be able to keep using your GPS normally, but people using high precision GPS equipments—like oil drilling, military, engineering and mining operations—will definitely notice the problems.