A MASSIVE solar flare could cause problems for mobile phone and GPS users this weekend.

Space agency NASA said a 'significant solar flare' erupted from the sun on Thursday, October 28, that could have an impact on us - 93 million miles away.

That is due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the flare - a large eruption of charged particles.

These, when entering an atmosphere where satellites lie, such as the Earth's, can cause power outages and widespread communications failures.

What is a solar flare?

"Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation," NASA said.

"Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

"This flare is classified as an X1-class flare."

X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, and so on.

Flares that are classified X10 or stronger are considered unusually intense.

Spaceweather.com said the CME, which is racing towards Earth at 2.8 million mph, was likely to reach Earth on Saturday or Sunday.

Space weather forecast

Dr Tamitha Skov who calls herself "a new kind of weather forecaster for our modern world" says as people become more reliant on technology like our mobile phones and GPS they are more susceptible to the effects of Space Weather.

Commenting on the solar flare, she said: "GPS users should be enjoying good reception right now, but that could change later in this week and into the next.

"Solar flux is also increasing rapidly, moving up through the high 70s last week into the high 80s, and possibly ramping up into the high 90s by mid-week.

"We could even see triple digits again by the end of the week."

This kind of solar activity can also raise the possibility of witnessing an aurora, like the Northern Lights.

Dr Skov said: "we will need to wait for a few more days before any of these regions rotate into the Earth-strike zone, so aurora photographers will have only a small pocket of fast solar wind to give a slim chance of aurora views right around mid-week, but those chances are pretty much reserved for high-latitude chasers."