Solar Flares And The Northern Lights

Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft has recorded intense ultraviolet ‎radiations emanating from a sunspot, as a result of solar flares. Simultaneously the British ‎Geological Survey (BGS) has issued a warning of a geomagnetic storm, which can be ‎seen in the form an aurora in parts of northern UK.‎

The monster flare, code named sunspot 1158 – was rapidly progressing towards the earth. ‎A sudden spurt of magnetic energy stored in the Sun’s atmosphere causes Solar flares to ‎be released. The current explosion produced a rapid but dimmer coronal mass ejection ‎‎(CME) – a burst of charged particles released into space.‎ The resulting magnetic energy can harm and interfere with electrical power grids, ‎communications systems and satellites as well as the satellite navigation (or sat-nav) ‎signals used on Earth.‎

The geomagnetic storm of 1972 had wreaked havoc on the distance telephone ‎communication lines in the state of Illinois. Around six million people were plunged into ‎darkness in Quebec in 1989. Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) are already visible further ‎down south than normal in Northern Ireland and some parts of UK. The northern lights ‎visible at Michigan are awe inspiring. Researchers claim that the Sun has awakened after ‎a long period of relative calm.‎