Auroras are among the most beautiful natural phenomena we can witness, and there is a chance that they will be “supercharged” this week owing to a powerful solar storm.
Auroras are a series of small flashes that occur when charged particles (electrons, protons, and so on) clash with gases in our planet’s upper atmosphere. According to Spaceweather.com, a large geomagnetic storm will occur this week as a result of particle ejections from the Sun. This has the ability to “supercharge” auroras in areas where they are visible.
On May 7, a coronal mass ejection (CME) struck our planet’s magnetic field, according to the space weather monitoring website. However, contrary to predictions, it had a minor influence and did not generate a large geomagnetic storm. However, the Sun apparently blasted another CME towards our planet shortly after.
CMEs are coronal plasma bubbles that are emitted from the Sun over a period of many hours. CMEs are known to occur alone or in conjunction with solar flares, which are explosions on the Sun’s surface.
Anticipating Increased Solar Activity: Solar Maximum on the Horizon
On May 7, shortly after a CME struck our planet, a “backward active region” on the Sunburst, producing a long-lasting solar flare with an apparent Earth-directed blast. The flare’s strong ultraviolet energy ionized the top of our planet’s atmosphere. This might have resulted in a brief blackout of shortwave radio over the western United States and the Pacific Ocean.
This solar outburst also sent another CME our way. A NASA model forecasts that this CME will strike our planet on May 10. This could result in G2 (moderate) or G3 (severe) geomagnetic storms. This type of geomagnetic storm could increase the visibility of auroras in areas where they are already visible and perhaps make them visible in areas where they are not normally visible.
Solar activity has gradually increased in recent years, and experts expect this trend to continue until the solar maximum, which is expected to occur in 2025, according to NASA. The term “solar maximum” refers to the period of greatest and most intense solar activity.