The S-shaped sign, said Richard Canfield of Montana State University, Bozeman, can be used as a solar eruption warning signal. This would give power companies and satellite operators about three extra days to prepare for the effects of a coronal mass ejection.
Current technology detects the solar explosions as they happen.
This gives some advanced warning since it takes three or four days for the explosive wave to reach Earth. The 'S' sign detected by the X-ray satellite would add days to the warning, Canfield said. Coronal mass ejections are massive eruptions of electrically charged plasma, or superheated gas, from the outer atmosphere of the sun. The sudden release of energy can hurl 10 billion tons of gas into space at speeds of up to 2 million miles an hour. The energy release can equal billions of megatons of TNT, said Canfield.