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The constant activity on the surface of the Sun is punctuated by violent outbursts powered the Sun’s strong magnetic field. Solar flares emit bursts of X-rays that travel outward at the speed of light, coronal mass ejections( CMEs) are giant eruptions of hot gasses from the Sun’s outer atmosphere. As this blast wave of solar material( plasma) streams towards the planets at 1000 km/sec, it sweeps up the magnetic field in its path, creating a magnetized shockwave of the type that struck Earth’s magnetic field on October 8, 2013.