Nasa Films Solar Storm Activity In High Definition

It is the stuff of Hollywood movies, space storms hurtling towards Earth with alarming speed.



Weather in space is largely unpredictable, and in the case of the most severe storms and solar flares caused by activity on the Sun, these powerful torrents can cause potential devastation on Earth.



Forecasters are only able to predict large space storms, which can cause huge power outages and disrupt our communications systems, just 19 hours ahead.



In fact, experts would only know 15 minutes before if a destructive space weather storm was about to hit the Earth.



Space weather is caused by the behaviour of the Sun and can occur in the form of radiation storms, solar flares and, the one to worry about, coronal mass ejections - which sends scores of solar material into space, and sometimes hurtling towards Earth.



These all modify the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, affecting our technology, satellites and disrupting our power supply - potentially leaving large areas of the world paralysed.