Space enthusiasts were able to capture the shots of stunnig aurora after a solar storm struck Earth today amid fear of global outages impacting radio and GPS. Aurora is a natural light seen predominantly in high-latitude regions. Space weather researcher Dr. Tamitha Skov recently predicted that a big solar storm was likely to strike the Earth with possibility of strong aurora shows.
“Direct Hit! A snake-like filament launched as a big #solarstorm while in the Earth-strike zone. NASA predicts impact early July 19. Strong #aurora shows possible with this one, deep into mid-latitudes. Amateur #radio & #GPS users expect signal disruptions on Earth’s nightside,” the space weather physicist tweeted.
She said that minor solar storm is possible on July 20 at places with high latitudes, with 50% possibility of a major storm. In mid latitudes, active aurora is possible with 10% possibility of a major storm.
Skov later said that the solar storm is although waning now, “we do have more storming on the way.”
“It wont take much to bump us back to storm levels over the next few days,” she added.
Spaceweather.com said that solar wind entered Earth’s magnetosphere after a crack opened in the planet’s magnetic field on July 19, registering a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm.
Several social media users shared the pictures of aurora shows captured by them during the solar storm. Retweeting one of the images, Skov wrote, “#Aurora bright enough to be visible on a flight over the city lights in the Pacific Northwest USA, captured on an iPhone during the early part of this #solarstorm. I would think this view might be blinding through night vision goggles.”