Scientists warn that a solar flare could one day bring down the Earth's communication networks

By

Sophie CurtisTechnology And Science Editor

15:43, 22 APR 2019UPDATED23:02, 22 APR 2019

(Image: Juan Carlos Casado)

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NASA has shared a spectacular picture of the Northern Lights adorning the sky in Iceland - but warned that the "beauty and the beast" aurora could wreak havoc here on Earth.

The image was captured by astronomer Juan Carlos Casado in 2016, and selected as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on Sunday.

It shows the aurora borealis over Thingvallavatn Lake in Iceland - a lake that partly fills a fault that divides Earth's large Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.

"Admire the beauty but fear the beast," wrote Casado, in his picture caption.

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"The beauty is the aurora overhead, here taking the form of great green spiral, seen between picturesque clouds with the bright Moon to the side and stars in the background.

"The beast is the wave of charged particles that creates the aurora but might, one day, impair civilization."

Aurora are the result of collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun and particles in the Earth's atmosphere.

While they are usually harmless, scientists warn that a particularly strong solar flare could one day release a pulse of charged particles capable of bringing down the Earth's communication networks.

This happened once before in 1859, when a pulse of charged particles associated with a solar flare bombarded Earth's magnetosphere, creating a so-called "Carrington Event".