The Sun is going through an intense time right now. Our host star is experiencing increased activity, with a series of solar eruptions aimed towards Earth that resulted in a rare geomagnetic storm. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center issued a severe geomagnetic storm alert on Monday following a series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that emerged last week.
The storm reached level G4, meaning it’s severe. The geomagnetic storm triggered bright, colorful auroras last night in different parts of the world, with a chance for more of the celestial lights to take over the skies later tonight. Space weather forecasters at NOAA had been monitoring at least five CMEs that erupted from the Sun since last week in anticipation that some may be headed towards Earth.
“Some seem to have missed Earth, some clipped Earth, and then eventually one of those we were anticipating was much more of a good punch,” Shawn Dahl, service coordinator for the Space Weather Prediction Center, told Gizmodo. The Sun is approaching its solar maximum, a period of increased activity during its 11-year cycle that’s characterized by intense solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and massive sunspots. Earlier in May, a G5, or extreme, geomagnetic storm hit Earth as a result of large expulsions of plasma from the Sun’s corona (also known as coronal mass ejections).
The G5 storm was the first to hit Earth in more than 20 years, and had some effects .