Strong northern lights spotted again – vorarlberg.ORF.at

The solar storm began Tuesday night into Wednesday, accompanied by a strong stream of radiation that could be observed centrally on the Sun's surface at 2 a.m. Wednesday. “Using so-called coronagraph images from space telescopes, it soon became clear that the storm was moving towards Earth at high speed,” said Eva Weller from the Space Weather Office of Geosphere Austria.

“The parameters that can be extracted from such images, particularly the direction and speed of the storm, are important initial values ​​for models that predict when storms will reach land,” Weiler said. The Geosphere solar storm model estimated the storm's arrival time at Earth in five hours. This is a value within error limits.

A photo series consisting of 3 photos

They can only be seen through gaps in the clouds

The solar storm finally reached Earth on Thursday at 4:49 PM (CEST) and then caused the northern lights to appear in Austria and at high and mid-latitudes around the world. The visibility of the extremely strong northern lights, which continued throughout the night, was affected by rain and heavy clouds.

More northern lights are expected

There were only “a few gaps in the clouds for a short period,” Erwin Filemon, head of the Salzkammergut Astronomical Working Group at the Jahburg Observatory, told APA. Given the strong solar activity, it is very likely that “more northern lights will be seen in Austria” in the next few days or weeks.

The second strongest solar storm since 2005

As it stands, the storm is approximately 20% weaker than the one that occurred in May of this year. “This makes this geomagnetic storm the second most powerful storm in this solar cycle after the May event and since 2005,” Weiler said. Additionally, the recent solar storm is the fourth strongest since the 2003 Halloween event.

It is possible that Navis is disabled

According to Weiler, no impact on the electricity grid is expected. “But there may be disruptions when using global navigation systems. The storm will continue for a few additional hours on Friday, allowing more aurora borealis to be seen in those areas of the world that do not receive daylight.

More solar storms

The expert explained that the current solar cycle is stronger than the previous cycle. It is not entirely clear whether maximum solar activity has already been reached or is still imminent. However, in the next few months, there may be more solar storms hitting Earth, which, even under favorable conditions, could trigger the northern lights in central Europe.

The solar cycle occurs approximately every eleven years

The northern lights are a result of the current bubble on the Sun: their activity fluctuates in an approximately eleven-year cycle. The current cycle is currently at its maximum – it lasts a few years, during which there is always a relatively large number of solar flares. Colorful sky lights are created when coronal mass ejections (CMEs), huge clouds of solar plasma, hit the Earth's magnetic field.

Geomagnetic storms

Mass ejection can create geomagnetic storms. The US weather agency NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reported on Friday evening that the current storms had reached category G4. The northern lights seen over large parts of Germany in May were caused by a G5 storm, the highest category.