Mysterious solar eruption ‘blasts crack in Earth’s protective shield’ sparking geomagnetic storm

A GEOMAGNETIC storm is said to have 'cracked' part of Earth's magnetic field and allowed solar wind to rush through.

The solar eruption which caused the storm is something of a mystery as it's not thought to have been a solar flare.

Experts now think the eruption may have been due to a rare co-rotating interaction region (CIR).

A CIR happens when two streams of solar wind meet each other.

Solar wind is the continuous flow of particles for The Sun and Earth's magnetic field protects us from the damaging effects of this.

However, differing quick streams of solar wind seem to have hit Earth and opened "a crack in our planet's magnetosphere", according to .

Although that sounds scary, there's no need to panic.

The event was just said to cause a surprise solar storm over the weekend.

Minor solar storms can still affect our tech and cause power grid fluctuations, satellite issues and radio blackouts.

Nasa is aware that cracks can form in Earth's magnetic field.

It previously : "Immense cracks sometimes develop in Earth's magnetosphere and remain open for hours.

"This allows the solar wind to gush through and power stormy space weather."

Solar storms may sound bad but they also produce pretty natural light displays like the Northern Lights.

The Sun is at the start of its 11-year cycle and in a very active phase.

That means we're currently seeing more frequent solar flares.