(NEXSTAR) -- It's been a busy few weeks on the sun, and yet another eruption of material has been blasted out into space. If conditions are right, it could spark strong G3 geomagnetic storm levels on Earth.

On Saturday, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) noted that an M8.1 solar flare, "an eruption of energy from the sun that generally lasts minutes to hours," had been detected. Considered "more infrequent," this flare is weaker than the X-class flares seen in November that led to widespread northern lights viewing in the U.S.

Late last night, the SWPC said a full-halo coronal mass ejection, or CME, associated with the flare had occurred. That CME "is expected to impact Earth early to midday" on Tuesday and, depending on "the orientation of the embedded magnetic field," it cou

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