Northern lights from space5/16/2023 ![]() ![]() The orientation of this field, the remnants of the Sun’s magnetic field torn away when the CME was launched, is crucial. Then, at around 4am UK time on March 17, it engulfed NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite, the space weather monitor that constantly samples the solar wind upstream of the Earth.įor the first time since it left the Sun, it was possible to measure the orientation of the magnetic field inside the CME. Patrick Pleul / EPAīy March 16, forecasters at the US Space Weather Prediction Center were predicting the CME would trigger a geomagnetic storm in the days that followed. Spectacular lights were visible as far south as Germany. But for scientists studying how solar activity affects the space environment surrounding our planet, it was the start of an interesting couple of days. Unless you have a keen interest in our local star, you were probably unaware this had happened. The story begins in the early hours of March 15, when a magnetically active region of the Sun’s surface crackled and erupted, hurling billions of tonnes of the solar atmosphere out into the solar system. But what had brought the lights to the UK that night? Social media was overflowing with photographic evidence of a display stretching from Scotland to Somerset. Nevertheless, on the morning of March 18, the British press were reporting a brilliant display of the northern lights the previous night. It’s not surprising, the aurora borealis is a breathtakingly beautiful natural phenomenon, but one that is seldom seen from the British Isles. Catching a glimpse of the northern lights is apparently the top experience for Britons compiling a “bucket list” of must-do experiences before they die.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |