Northern Lights – As the strongest solar storm in almost 20 years reached Earth on Friday, breathtaking auroras were visible over Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Slovenia, Britain, and other regions of Europe.
As per the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the first of multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs)—expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun—occurred shortly after 1600 GMT.
Later on, it was elevated to an “extreme” geomagnetic storm, the first since the infamous “Halloween Storms” of October 2003, which destroyed power infrastructure in South Africa and caused blackouts in Sweden.
According to the organization, Earth is predicted to be struck by many more coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the upcoming days.
Images of auroras from Australasia and northern Europe were shared by online users.
In the meantime, authorities alerted airlines, the electricity grid, and satellite operators about possible interruptions brought on by alterations in Earth’s magnetic field.
CMEs travel more slowly than solar flares, which reach Earth in about eight minutes at the speed of light. According to experts, the current average speed of CMEs is 800 kilometres (500 miles per second).
Their source was a huge sunspot cluster 17 times wider than Earth. The Sun is about to reach the apex of an 11-year cycle of increased activity.
Although the consequences would mostly be felt over the planet’s northern and southern latitudes, a professor of space physics named Mathew Owens told AFP that the extent of the effects would depend on the storm’s final power.
“Go outside tonight and look would be my advice because if you see the aurora, it’s quite a spectacular thing,” he added. If people have eclipse glasses, they can also look for the sunspot cluster during the day.
According to officials, this may apply to areas of the United States such as Northern California and Alabama.
or a specific category with our 
Comments are closed.