Solar storms sweep through near-earth space.
When the hole in the corona points towards Earth, solar storms move directly towards us.
Northern lights have been in the sky for days.
Munich - A
solar storm
races through space at high speed.
They are so-called geomagnetic storms.
Solar winds occur when particles charged by the sun escape into space through holes in the corona.
These solar winds can develop into regular storms that lash against the earth, explains the
German Aerospace Center
(DLR) on its website.
If the electrically charged particles collide with the earth's magnetic field, the solar storm is
diverted
to the
north and south
poles.
Violent solar storms - or particle bombardment - can also change the earth's magnetic field.
There is no danger on the ground.
The electromagnetic fast particles can interfere with satellites, radio and the power supply.
In 2003, for example, a solar storm caused a power outage lasting several hours in the Swedish city of Malmö and a failure of the European flight radar.
Air traffic in the USA was also severely disrupted.
In the night from Sunday to Monday, a solar storm hit the earth's magnetic field and triggered a geomagnetic storm of level G2.
This means that it is a moderate storm, because the categories range up to G5.
The rain of particles made itself felt on earth: impressive northern lights could be seen in the sky.
According to the US weather agency NOAA, space weather remains exciting.
On September 29th,
solar storms level G2 (moderate storm) are
to be expected.
According to the British Met Office, the solar storms are expected to reach speeds of up to 620 kilometers per second.
Northern lights (aurora borealis) can therefore be seen in northern Scotland on Tuesday.
It is unlikely that the northern lights can be seen in our latitudes.
According to NOAA, being able to see the northern lights depends on two factors:
geomagnetic activity
- the degree of disturbance of the earth's magnetic field at this point in time - and the geographical location.
Of course, the weather has to be good too.
A clear night with no moonlight and distracting city lights are best.
There are indications for a forecast for the northern lights: The degree of geomagnetic activity, the so-called Kp index, indicates this.
Numbers from 0 to 9 are used.
If the Kp index is low, the northern lights can be seen.
However, if the geomagnetic activity is high, the aurora borealis can also be observed in locations with medium or low latitude.
According to the British Met Office, it is a Kp value of 6 which, according to the space weather forecast, will weaken towards October.
The likelihood of an aurora borealis is small, but possible.
Pink instead of green - that's behind the extraordinary aurora borealis
Northern lights fans in Norway have seen unusual colors in the sky in the past few days.
Usually the northern lights glow
green
, in this case unusual pink ones were seen.
Normally, the oxygen particles react by emitting green and red when the solar particles enter our earth's atmosphere.
This usually happens at an altitude of around 80 to 150 kilometers.
Pink-colored light is produced when the solar storm particles collide with nitrogen.
Aurora
Taken by Marianne Bergli on September 26, 2020 @ Kvaløya, Troms, Norway.
An amazing night with good friends, Kara our Dog, and a wonderful pink aurora.
Can't wait for the next.
Love being outside.
Marianne.https: //t.co/G2iYkauLJX pic.twitter.com/Bg2LuJcI2w
- mizuho kai (@ mizuho73700856) September 28, 2020
The
space weather
is the
sun
determined.
The sun is the largest celestial body in our solar system.
The science portal spaceweatherlive.com closely monitors the activity of the sun and also publishes a probability forecast for auroras.
The probability for Central Europe is therefore low and is 40 percent.
(ml)
Minor G1 geomagnetic storm (Kp5)
Threshold Reached: 22:23 UTC
Follow live on https://t.co/Zkq26B89Y7 pic.twitter.com/8HYepmX8R7
- SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) September 28, 2020
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