From the Washington Post’s Sun shoots a fastball at Earth, but minimal impact expected:
A huge sunspot unleashed a blob of charged plasma Thursday that space weather watchers predict will blast past the Earth on Sunday. Satellite operators and power companies are keeping a close eye on the incoming cloud, which could distort the Earth’s magnetic field and disrupt radio communications, especially at higher latitudes.
“Our simulations show potential to pack a good punch to Earth’s near-space environment,†said Antti Pulkkinen of the Space Weather Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
But, he added, “We’re not looking at an extreme event here.â€
The front edge of the burst should arrive Sunday morning [. . .]
I’m not sure what I’m looking at, but this is satellite imager of the sun belching out the plasma blob on Thursday:
The blob is apparently moving at more than 2 million miles per hour.