The strongest geomagnetic storm in 20 years made the colorful northern lights visible Friday night across the United States, even in areas that are normally too far south to see them. And the show may not be over. Tonight may offer another opportunity to capture the aurora if you have clear skies, according to the x.com/NWSSWPC/status/1789274423498842362″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:NOAA;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:1;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>NOAAand Sunday could bring even more displays that reach all the way to Alabama.
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center said Saturday that the sun has continued to produce powerful solar flares. That's on top of previously observed coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or explosions of magnetized plasma, which will not reach Earth until tomorrow. The agency has been monitoring a particularly active sunspot group since Wednesday and confirmed yesterday that it had observed G5 conditions – the designated “extreme” level – that had not been seen since October 2003. In a Friday news release, Clinton Wallace, the director of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, said the current storm is “an unusual and potentially historic event.”
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The Sun emitted two strong solar flares on May 10-11, 2024, peaking at 9:23 pm EDT on May 10 and 7:44 am EDT on May 11. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the events, which were classified as class X5.8 and X1.5 flares. https://t.co/nLfnG1OvvE twitter.com/LjmI0rk2Wm;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>pic.twitter.com/LjmI0rk2Wm
– NASA Sun and Space (@NASASun) twitter.com/NASASun/status/1789287437908271615?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:May 11, 2024;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>May 11, 2024
Geomagnetic storms occur when flares from the sun interact with Earth's magnetosphere. While it all sounds a little scary, people on the ground really have nothing to worry about. As x.com/NASASun/status/1789287441183948813″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:NASA;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:3;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>POT As explained in x, “the harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through the Earth's atmosphere” to affect us physically. However, these storms can disrupt our technology and have been known to disrupt communications, GPS, satellite operations, and even the power grid.
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