Are you looking for Auroral fireworks for Halloween It could happen depending on where you live.
The Sun released an "important" X1 solar radiation on October 28, 2021. This is the strongest class of flares. The flare hit Earth 8 and a quarter minutes after it was released. However, a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), which was also released, occurred eight and a quarter minutes later.
CME, which is slower moving, arrives on October 30. It hits Earth's magnetic fields on the 30th. A strong geomagnetic storm can occur on the 31st. Earth will continue to move through CME's trail on the 31st.
This should result in spectacular auroras in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
This week, a massive Solar flare (photon blast) reached the Sun. Also, a Coronal Mass Ejection was observed (CME: lots of plasma!) The release was made. The CME arrived tomorrow, and the flare will cause spectacular auroras all over the globe. It reached Earth just 8.5 minutes later. (green line= aurora visible on horizon) pic.twitter.com/S47Iw47aPf Dr. James O'Donoghue (@physicsJ) October 29, 2021
Bright skies and a Halloween celebration! CME from today's X1 flare will hit Earth on October 31st. The Sun's average speed was approximately 1100 km/s. This is about 2.5 million miles per hour. The expected geomagnetic storm is a Kp6-8 (moderate to severe). Good luck Aurora watchers. pic.twitter.com/NrxxXGKyr2 C. Alex Young, Ph.D. (@TheSunToday) October 28, 2021
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center issued an October 30th G3 (Strong), geomagnetic storm watch.
SpaceWeather.com reports that this type of flare produced auroras in the past. These auroras were visible to the naked eye from as far as Illinois and Oregon, respectively.
X-class is the strongest of the flares. A-class flares are the smallest. The number gives more details about the strength.
An X2 flare is twice as intense than an X1, while an X3 flare is three times as intense. Flares classified as X10 or higher are unusually intense. However, X1 is still considered to be a major flare.
Recently, the Sun has been active (see aurora imagery of the CME that reached Earth mid-October). As you can see in this movie from SDO data processed by Sen Doran.
Easy Tyger
This is what a small part of the Sun did 2 days ago.
Many processes and repairs.
Made with data from SDO pic.twitter.com/r1LKUP2P3R Sen Doran (@_TheSeaning) October 28, 2021
Are you curious about the different types of solar flares, and what they mean to Earth? NASA has a great guide on solar flares:
Universe Today originally published this article. You can read the original article.
