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Solar Flares Could Affect Power Systems

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From Times Wire Reports

Four solar flares and a pair of powerful magnetic gas clouds spawned in a monster sunspot were headed for Earth and could affect power systems, satellites and some radio transmissions this weekend, a top space weather forecaster said.

They might also provide a dazzling display of the northern lights if they arrive at night, said Gary Heckman, senior forecaster for the U.S. Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colo.

The solar flares--explosions in the sun’s atmosphere--and the fast-moving magnetic gas clouds, known as coronal mass ejections, were hurled at Earth from the biggest sunspot scientists have seen in the last decade.

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