iTwire, by William Atkins, 12 March 2011
A coronal mass ejection (CME) slammed into the Earth’s magnetic field on Thursday, March 10, 2011. This impact caused a geomagnetic storm that sent the Northern Lights throughout Canada and northern United States. And, there's more to come.
A G1-class geomagnetic storm has produced beautiful auroras across the northern hemisphere of Earth.
Geomagnetic storms are disturbances in the geomagnetic field of the Earth that are caused by extra-strong gusts in the solar wind that blows by Earth.
A G1-class storm, as classified by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA: Space Weather Scale), is a minor one (the smallest classification) in which weak fluctuations in the Earth's power grids may occur and some minor impact on worldwide satellite operations may also happen.
A G1 may also cause other disturbances here on Earth. The Northern Lights, also called the Aurora Borealis or the Polar Aurorae, in the Northern Hemisphere. is likely to be visible at high latitudes when a G1-class geomagnetic storm occurs.
Sky watchers have already reported seeing majestic colors that are far more beautiful than usual for the Northern Lights.
These beautiful sights occur just outside of the back doors for people living in the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere and they are all the result of the heating up of Solar Cycle 24 of the Sun.
Solar Cycle 24 began in January 2008. Learn more about “Solar Cycle 24 Begins” at the NASA Science News website.
SpaceWeather.com reports that “Earth's magnetic field is still reverberating from a CME strike on March 10th. During the past 24 hours, Northern Lights have descended as far south as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan in the United States.”
Travis Novitsky, from Grand Portage, Minnesota, was quoted on the SpaceWeather.com website.
Novitsky says, "At one point the lights filled more than half of the entire sky.”
See Novitsky’s photo at: http://spaceweather.com/
He added, "We stood in awe at not only the movements but also the colors we were seeing-- green, red, purple, and white. I was almost in a trance staring at this amazing show and I had to remind myself to keep taking pictures!" [SpaceWeather.com]
The maximum activity from the Sun in Solar Cycle 24 is expected in 2011 or 2012, so this is just an heightened period for solar activity before "SolarMax" (the maximum of solar activity for this solar cycle) occurs.
Learn more about this story at the SpaceWeather.com website.
And, check out the March 10, 2011 Fox News article “Major Solar Flare Erupts, May Make Auroras Visible in Northern U.S.”
Plus, a very interesting video of Solar Cycle 24 is found at YouTube’s "Solar Cycle 24” It is well worth looking at.
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