Solar Geomagnetic Storm Causes Northern Lights To Be More Visible In These Areas
A flare of solar energy hit earth Monday, causing a “geomagnetic storm” that has made the Northern Lights temporarily more visible than usual in lower parts of the world.
The bright Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, have been visible across a dozen northern U.S. states like New York, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Washington, along with countries like Scotland and Northern England, according to SpaceWeather.com.
The extra visibility is expected to last until Wednesday due to a "rather active period of geomagnetic activity" causing an ongoing geomagnetic storm according to the United Kingdom's Met Office.
The storm on Saturday was triggered by a “strong coronal mass ejection," which is a very energetically powered explosion of light and solar material from the Sun.
The colorful display of lights is formed by “the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere. Variations in color are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding,” according to the Northern Lights Centre.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration categorized the storm at a “G2” level, which is the second-highest level out of a five-level storm system.
Geomagnetic storms can largely disturb Earth's magnetic field and can cause fluctuations to power grids at higher latitudes and could also affect satellites, the NOAA said.
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