NOAA’s aurora forecast for tonight. (Image credit: NOAA)
Exciting news! Aurora chasers around the world are eagerly awaiting the arrival of a super-hot plasma eruption — known as a coronal mass ejection (CME) — that will slam into Earth tonight.
The rapid Earth-bound CME left the sun on Nov. 29 during a powerful M9.8-class solar flare eruption. But it isn’t alone. The speedy plasma outburst will merge with several slower upstream CMEs that left the sun a day earlier (Nov. 28), creating a “Cannibal CME” that will likely trigger a strong geomagnetic storm akin to a Nov. 5 event that supercharged auroras and STEVE around the world.
Related: The next 4 to 5 years will be the best time to see the northern lights this solar cycle
Brace yourselves! Geomagnetic storms are disturbances to Earth’s magnetic field caused by large expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s atmosphere in the form of CMEs.
Photos welcome!
(Image credit: Scott Rock Photography)
If you capture photos of the aurora displays and would like them to be considered for a photo roundup story please email them over to spacephotos@space.com.
If the Cannibal CME strikes as predicted, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts strong (G3) geomagnetic storm conditions with an impressive aurora forecast for the U.S. NOAA ranks geomagnetic storms on a scale running from G1, which can cause an increase in auroral activity around the poles and minor fluctuations in power supplies, up to G5. This most extreme level can cause complete HF (high frequency) radio blackouts on the entire sunlit side of the Earth, lasting for several hours.
NOAA has upgraded their geomagnetic storm watch to G3 on Dec. 1. (Image credit: NOAA)What can we expect?
The last G3 storm on Nov. 5 created phenomenal aurora displays around the world, with northern lights reported as far south as Greece and Turkey.
On Nov. 5, astrophotographer Gareth Mon Jones caught a stunning view of the aurora above Penmon Lighthouse, Anglesey.
“A whopper of a display on Anglesey tonight,” Jones wrote on X. “my girlfriend was happy to see one of the best displays of the northern lights in a long time”
Gareth Mon Jones caught a stunning view of the aurora above Penmon Lighthouse, Anglesey. (Image credit: Gareth Mon Jones)
Steven lomas managed to photograph mysterious STEVE above Dunstanburgh Castle Northumberland, UK.
“It was the strongest display of the aurora that I have seen in 8 years of photography” lomas told Space.com. “The highlight was seeing the corona and also STEVE!”
lomas also captured quite the mythical scene with vibrant green and red auroras dancing over Dunstanburgh Castle.
(Image credit: Steven lomas)
Meteorologist Angel Enriquez was working the evening shift at the National Weather Service in Glasgow,
