A strong magnetic storm, caused by two coronal mass ejections on the Sun, covered the Earth on the night of August 17-18. A G3-class geomagnetic storm has sparked bright auroras.
A NASA astronaut posted on his Twitter some striking photos of the phenomenon on his Twitter. “Aurora borealis is absolutely IMPRESSIVE today!!! Bob Hines wrote. “Grateful for the recent solar activity that has resulted in these sights.”
Earlier this week, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti shared photos of another aurora from the ISS.
Recall that the aurora occurs when the Sun sends a stream of charged particles towards the Earth. Colliding with the upper atmosphere, they excite the atoms and molecules of the gases that make up its composition. The radiation of excited atoms is in the visible range and is observed as aurora.
The sun is now very active, so the opportunity to admire a bright natural phenomenon occurs among residents of northern latitudes quite often.
For example, the current magnetic storm should last two days, but tomorrow, according to the Earth’s forecast, a new coronal mass ejection will reach due to a paired solar flare. On August 17, a double explosion of class M1 and M2 sent a new portion of charged particles towards our planet.