Lots of northern lights expected

The sun has just released The most powerful flare we’ve seen in seven years. Yesterday, October 3, an outbreak from X9.0 intensityexploded right in the center of the solar disk. What’s even more interesting is that this was accompanied by a so-called coronal halo mass ejection, that is, an ejection directly towards Earth.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory detected an X-category 9.1 explosion. even surpasses the huge X 8.7 flare on May 14th this year.amid increasing solar activity, which will peak in 2025, the space agency reports.

The flare radiation ionized the upper part of the Earth’s atmosphere and caused a deep shortwave darkening over Africa and the South Atlantic.. Radio amateurs in the area may have noticed a loss of signal on frequencies below 30 MHz for half an hour after 12:18 UTC, reports Spaceweather.com.

Of greatest interest is coronal mass ejection. Preliminary images from SOHO’s coronagraph show a CME (coronal mass ejection) halo emerging from the explosion site. This is CME probably will collide with Earth on October 6.adding its effect to that of a coronal mass ejection with intensity X7.1 detected on October 1, which is expected to arrive on October 4, according to the same source.

northern lights

In the case of a single coronal mass ejection, even if accompanied by a powerful flare, the consequences are unlikely to cause too many problems, but we can see auroras up to 50 degrees latitude.

Auroras occur when solar particles collide with the Earth’s magnetic field and are channeled and guided. accelerate along magnetic field lines towards high latitudesfrom where they are released into the upper atmosphere.

Its interaction with particles in the atmosphere leads to ionization, which causes it to glow with colors that vary depending on the proportion of elements in the atmosphere.. This is essentially the same mechanism used to power neon in fluorescent lamps, only on a much larger scale.

In this case National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is forecasting peak auroras for several days. So pay close attention to the sky, you might see something.