The best show this weekend is in the sky. A geomagnetic storm — the largest in two decades — is causing a gorgeous glow over parts of the globe, and everyone is snapping photos of the awe-inspiring phenomenon.
A geomagnetic storm is caused by disturbances in Earth’s magnetosphere, typically triggered by intense solar activity such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the sun. When these charged particles interact with Earth’s magnetic field, they can disrupt the magnetosphere, leading to a geomagnetic storm. The result is the colorful .
While the northern lights are certainly beautiful, this geomagnetic storm does come with some hiccups. Starlink, the satellite arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX which owns 60% of the 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth, The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) also said there have been , as well as disruptions to GPS and high-frequency communication.
Want to view these lights yourself? In the United States, people in the northern half of the country can look up late in the night to see this phenomenon, with viewing possible as south as Northern California and Alabama. Your best shot at viewing these lights in this zone is to stay up between 10 P.M. and 2 A.M. local time, in an area with limited light pollution. While the human eye may not be able to detect the lights in every case, — so make sure you snap a pic (or a hundred!) before you head back in.
But if you can’t check out these lights in real life, you can enjoy the photos from around the world of this sun-related storm. Check out the photos below.
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