A series of powerful solar storms colored skies across the Northern Hemisphere this weekend, as people witnessed brilliant displays of the northern lights in the United States, Canada, Europe, China and beyond. Officials have said the dazzling light shows could continue for several more days.The aurora borealis — the phenomenon more commonly known as the northern lights — happens because of a molecular collision in the upper levels of Earth’s atmosphere that causes bursts of energy to be released in the form of visible light. The aurora borealis has a counterpart, the aurora australis, or southern lights, which is the same phenomenon in the southern hemisphere. These light shows can be visible for as much as half the year in certain places near either of the planet’s two poles, but it’s uncommon to see them in areas that are closer to the equator, which is why the spectacles over North America, Europe and other places on similar latitutdes were such a treat in the last few days.The aurora will extend from the poles toward the equator in periods of intense space weather activity, and it has been known in the past to reach as far as the continental U.S. when the activity is particularly extreme. That was the case over the weekend, as an unusually strong geomagnetic storm reached Earth and set the stage for a string of explosive nighttime scenes world over. The geomagnetic storm that arrived on Friday was a historic G5, the highest level on a ranking scale that starts at G1, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Additional Aurora sightings (weather permitting) may be possible this evening into tomorrow! A Geomagnetic Storm Watch has been issued for Sunday, May 12th. Periods of G4-G5 geomagnetic storms are likely! 👀 https://t.co/iibFBuyzXo— National Weather Service (@NWS) May 11, 2024A solar storm of that size has not come into contact with Earth in decades. It arrived in the midst of a parade of coronal mass ejections — eruptions of magnetic field and other solar material from the Sun’s corona that can cause geomagnetic storms — which continued to fuel the northern lights shows throughout Friday and Saturday. The next bursts of solar material are exp …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnA series of powerful solar storms colored skies across the Northern Hemisphere this weekend, as people witnessed brilliant displays of the northern lights in the United States, Canada, Europe, China and beyond. Officials have said the dazzling light shows could continue for several more days.The aurora borealis — the phenomenon more commonly known as the northern lights — happens because of a molecular collision in the upper levels of Earth’s atmosphere that causes bursts of energy to be released in the form of visible light. The aurora borealis has a counterpart, the aurora australis, or southern lights, which is the same phenomenon in the southern hemisphere. These light shows can be visible for as much as half the year in certain places near either of the planet’s two poles, but it’s uncommon to see them in areas that are closer to the equator, which is why the spectacles over North America, Europe and other places on similar latitutdes were such a treat in the last few days.The aurora will extend from the poles toward the equator in periods of intense space weather activity, and it has been known in the past to reach as far as the continental U.S. when the activity is particularly extreme. That was the case over the weekend, as an unusually strong geomagnetic storm reached Earth and set the stage for a string of explosive nighttime scenes world over. The geomagnetic storm that arrived on Friday was a historic G5, the highest level on a ranking scale that starts at G1, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Additional Aurora sightings (weather permitting) may be possible this evening into tomorrow! A Geomagnetic Storm Watch has been issued for Sunday, May 12th. Periods of G4-G5 geomagnetic storms are likely! 👀 https://t.co/iibFBuyzXo— National Weather Service (@NWS) May 11, 2024A solar storm of that size has not come into contact with Earth in decades. It arrived in the midst of a parade of coronal mass ejections — eruptions of magnetic field and other solar material from the Sun’s corona that can cause geomagnetic storms — which continued to fuel the northern lights shows throughout Friday and Saturday. The next bursts of solar material are exp …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
