Radi­a­tion from an immense solar blast hit the Earth yes­ter­day, forc­ing Delta Air Lines to redi­rect at least half a dozen air­planes that had been routed over the North Pole.  A geo­mag­netic warn­ing was issued when a satel­lite wit­nessed an ultra­vi­o­let flash from the mas­sive solar erup­tion caus­ing some polar flights to be re-routed to avoid com­mu­ni­ca­tion lapses and to avoid expos­ing pilots and pas­sen­gers to exces­sive radiation.

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