NASA released powerful footage showing over a half a dozen solar flares in one day. A solar flare occurs when magnetic energy that has been built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released with intense variation of brightness. Photo: NASA/SDO

WE don’t yet know when or where the highly charged ejecta from a solar eruption yesterday will hit Earth, but we know it will.

The flare, rated X-1 on the solar weather forecaster’s scale, is rated “extreme” — but only just.

Wide swatch CME now visible in updated LASCO C3 imagery. More to come. pic.twitter.com/FxxP9RHTFh — SolarHam (@SolarHam) September 10, 2014

Forecasters don’t yet know when the solar storm — which erupted from the Sun’s surface late Wednesday — will arrive here or which part of the planet will be facing the brunt of the effects. It could arrive as early as this afternoon Australian time, or may take a few days.

Major X1.6 solar flare observed around region 2158. A fast moving CME likely associated and possibly Earth directed. pic.twitter.com/DsKsrZ74DI — SolarHam (@SolarHam) September 10, 2014

Scientists will have a better idea after they get more satellite data.

Solar flares in the “extreme” scale can cause geomagnetic storms capable of bringing down power grids, damaging satellites and disrupting radio transmissions.

More often, the only effect is to brighten the auroras over the north and southern hemispheres.

It’s been several years since Earth has had a solar storm of this size coming from sunspots smack in the middle of the sun, said Tom Berger, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Solar storms happen often, especially during peaks in the solar cycle, and don’t directly harm people. But what makes this one more worrisome is its location on the Sun along with its strength, he said.

Moderate to Strong solar flare currently in progress. Stay Tuned. pic.twitter.com/QYCsyDvxbe — SolarHam (@SolarHam) September 10, 2014

“There’s been a giant magnetic explosion on the Sun,” Berger said. “Because it’s pointed right at us, we’ll at least catch some of the cloud” of highly energised and magnetised plasma that can disrupt Earth’s magnetic sphere, which sometimes leads to temporary power grid problems.

The first part of the storm, which arrives in only a few minutes, has already affected radio transmissions. It can also damage satellites.