Officials sound the alarm on powerful 'cannibal' solar burst that will hit Earth soon

Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have warned the public of a solar burst that is expected to hit Earth on November 30.

The Sun has been quite active, with officials explaining that over the past few days, it has been having outbursts of super-hot plasma, officially known as Coronal Magnetic Ejections (CME). These CMEs are released into the surrounding space, and sometimes Earth gets smacked. These charged solar particles from the Sun collide with Earth's magnetic field, and the majority remain in the upper atmosphere of the planet, protecting life on the surface.

Additionally, Earth's magnetic field funnels the charged particles to its poles, and the interaction between the charged particles and the molecules in the upper atmosphere produces a phenomenon known as auroras or the Northern/Southern Lights. The collision of the CME into Earth's magnetic field creates what is known as a geomagnetic storm, and depending on the severity of the CME, the storm can be global, pushing the auroras closer to the equator.

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As for what is expected to have already hit by the time you are reading this - officials from NOAA reported on November 29 that an M9.8 solar flare eruption on the Sun produced a speedy "cannibal" CME that will consume the Sun's slower-moving CMEs it released on November 28. The November 29, in combination with the November 28 CME, is expected to produce a strong geomagnetic storm that will certainly be taken advantage of by photographers chasing incredible photographs of the incredible cosmic phenomena.

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