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Sunday, March 7, 2021
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Intense solar storm creates spectacular northern lights

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auroraThe solar storm which has reached Earth on Monday continues to pepper the planet’s magnetic field, and the forecasters say that they have the potential to disrupt the power grids and the GPS system.

This is not it, there are more on the way, stargazers will have a few days to catch the glimpse of the aurora borealis or northern lights.

Solar storms as well as solar wind are known to be caused when the sun sends out giant burst of magnetic fields and gas. They travel the entire solar system and hit Earth.

NOAA or National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration officials said, “Solar wind conditions remain highly favorable for continued Strong Geomagnetic storming, with both fast solar wind and strong magnetic fields. Aurora watchers in North America, especially northern tier states of the US, should stay alert.”

The storms solar winds buoyed by a solar flare released Sunday have continued to bombard Earth.

Leading officials at the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center’s are categorizing the storm as a G4 level, which means it a severe geomagnetic storm.

As the storm first arrived, unusually intense Northern lights were seen from space on Monday. Scott Kelly, NASA astronaut, currently aboard the International Space Station or ISS has posted series of photos showcasing the glowing interactions between the solar radiation and the magnetic field of the Earth.

The most intense solar storms tend to be red, with less intense winds resulting in blues and greens.

No significant communication disruptions have been reported on Tuesday.

It’s likely local power grids have witnessed minor current fluctuations as a result of the radiation, but modern electrical systems are designed to withstand such circumstances.

On Monday, another flare was launched from the solar surface, sending out another wave of radiation. Those storming solar winds are expected to arrive late Wednesday and last through Thursday.

SWPC forecaster in a recent update has written, “This timing bodes well for aurora watchers in North America.”

Solar storm lights up the sky

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northern lightsEarth is being bombarded by a severe solar storm with a big geomagnetic jolt on Tuesday, disrupting electric power grids, power to homes and GPS tracking while pushing the colorful northern lights farther south.

Solar storm or solar flare is the result of explosion, flash of brightness on the sun’s surface that threw coronal mass ejections, globs-a billions tons of the suns plasma along the magnetic clouds of charged atomic particles like electron, ions in the direction of Earth and the storm may take one or two days to reach earth.

From Europe to Northern Ireland to Alaska and as far south as North Carolina, the lights exploded into the night sky dancing and glowing shades of greens and pinks, purples and reds.

This event is caused by severe geomagnetic storm said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A news conference was held on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the storm and its effects, the storm will likely subside by Wednesday.

It is said that is the strongest so far in this solar cycle, which occurs about every 11 years

Thomas Berger, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado said there were two blasts of magnetic plasma which combined and arrived on Earth about 15 hours earlier.

“It’s significantly stronger than expected,” Berger said. Forecasters had predicted a glancing blow instead of dead-on hit. Another theory is that the combination of the two storms made it worse, but it’s too early to tell if that’s so, he said.

Geomagnetic storms are rated on their intensity from one to five. This week event is rated as G4 a severe storm.

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