Randy Mann: Some in northern U.S. treated to northern lights
A rather strong solar flare on Sept. 10 headed toward Earth providing a dazzling light show across parts of the northern U.S. last Friday night.
There were reports of some green and orange lights in our region from the effects of that solar flare. It was one of the largest events since 2006, but, fortunately, there were no major disruptions to satellite communications.
It was the second solar flare to hit Earth within a week. The last one did affect high-frequency radio communications Sept. 10.
The intense flare also is known as a coronal mass ejection. These massive ejections from the sun contain billions of tons of energetic hydrogen and helium ions and high levels of radiation that can affect communications. The Earth’s electromagnetic field protects our planet from the sun’s harmful radiation.
One of the big effects of this event is the expansion of the northern lights. Many residents in the northern U.S. and points northward were treated to a show of shimmering and dazzling colors last Friday night. The phenomenon occurs as the result of the collisions between the gaseous particles in our atmosphere with the charged particles from the sun’s flares.
The sun has been sending coronal mass ejections at our planet for billions of years. In 2000, a major flare caused some satellites to short-circuit and lead to some radio blackouts. In 1989, another powerful flare knocked out power in Quebec and left 6 million people without power for nine hours. Some power transformers in New Jersey melted from the intense solar storm.
The most massive and first documented solar flare to impact Earth was in 1859, known as the Carrington Event. According to NOAA, the storm was so massive that the northern lights were seen all the way down to the Caribbean, an extremely rare event. At that time, the telegraph was the main form of global communications and the huge flare shocked some telegraph operators and even sparked fires from discharges from the lines. It’s estimated that if this type of event were to strike today, and someday it will, damage to satellites and other forms of communications would be in the trillions of dollars.
Our sun is currently heading out of its maxima phase, but additional coronal mass ejections are still possible through the rest of the year.
In terms of our weather, it still looks like we’ll have a chance of shower activity during the new moon phase Sept. 24-30. Wetter-than-normal conditions are expected beginning around the middle of next month.