Officials said geomagnetic activity is likely to increase with the arrival of an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the event on the Sun.

The Gemini South telescope is located on Cerro Pachón mountain in the Chilean Andes, at an elevation of over 2,700 meters (8,900 feet).

The US government's scientific weather forecasting agency said a powerful geomagnetic solar storm reached dangerous levels.