Earth could be plunged into darkness tomorrow, with solar winds having the power to affect satellites, knocking out GPS navigation, mobile phone signal and satellite TV such as Sky. A surge of particles can also lead to high currents in the magnetosphere, which can lead to higher than normal electricity in power lines, resulting in electrical transformers and power stations blow outs and a loss of power. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says there is a 45 percent chance that a solar storm could hit Earth.

This is because magnetism has erupted from the sun’s surface, unleashing cosmic radiation into deep space.

For the most part, the Earth’s magnetic field protects humans from the barrage of radiation but it looks as if Earth is in line of the stream of cosmic particles, and scientists say we should see evidence of it today, December 5.

Website Space Weather says: “NOAA forecasters say there is a 45% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on December 5 when a coronal mass ejection (CME) is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field.

“CMEs are rare during solar minimum because their usual launching pads – that is, sunspots – are absent.

“This one was produced not by a sunspot, but rather by a filament of magnetism erupting from the sun's southern hemisphere.