article_snippet: The first ‘significant’ solar flare of the year has been spotted by the orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
article_snippet: The first ‘significant’ solar flare of the year peaked at 12.22pm EDT (4.22pm GMT) yesterday and was watched by the orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
article_snippet: The first ‘significant’ solar flare of the year was the most powerful of the year so far, and is predicted to cause a geomagnetic storm on Earth tomorrow following blackouts today.
article_snippet: Space weather experts in Colorado, US issued a warning on a solar flare.
article_snippet: Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation, but harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground.
article_snippet: Solar flares can damage satellites and have an enormous financial cost.
article_snippet: Very large flares can even create currents within electricity grids and knock out energy supplies.
article_snippet: They also note that ejections of material associated with the flare - known as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) - are predicted to arrive today and tomorrow.
article_snippet: A solar flare occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released - mostly in the active regions around sunspots.
article_snippet: Solar flares are not to be confused with coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
highlights_snippet: Space weather experts in Colorado, US issued a warning on a solar flare .
  