Celestial Marvel: Weekend’s Spectacular Solar Storms
Over the past weekend, an extraordinary series of powerful solar storms illuminated the skies across the Northern Hemisphere with vibrant colors, treating observers in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, and beyond to awe-inspiring exhibitions of the northern lights. Experts foresee that these captivating celestial shows might endure for several more days.
The captivating occurrence, commonly referred to as the aurora borealis or northern lights, stems from collisions among molecules in the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere, leading to the emission of energy in the form of visible light. Its counterpart, the aurora australis or southern lights, replicates this phenomenon in the southern hemisphere. Although these luminous displays frequently adorn certain polar regions for significant durations, sightings closer to the equator are infrequent. Hence, the recent events over North America, Europe, and similar latitudes have been especially treasured.
During periods of heightened space weather activity, the aurora expands from the poles toward the equator. In instances of extreme activity, it can extend as far as the continental United States. Such was the scenario over the weekend, as an exceptionally robust geomagnetic storm made impact on Earth, setting the stage for a series of explosive nocturnal panoramas worldwide. This historic G5 storm, the most severe category on the scale starting at G1, marked the first occurrence of its magnitude in decades. Concurrently coinciding with a sequence of coronal mass ejections—discharges of solar storms from the Sun’s corona capable of triggering geomagnetic storms—it fueled the northern lights displays throughout Friday and Saturday.
As per the forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, subsequent waves of solar storms are predicted to arrive around midday on Sunday. Consequently, the center has issued a geomagnetic storm watch, anticipating G4 or G5 events following these impending coronal mass ejections. “Watches at this level are exceedingly rare,” underscored the space weather prediction center in a Saturday advisory. It further accentuated the potential for the aurora to be observable over an extensive area, possibly reaching as far south as Alabama to northern California.
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