38
votes
Extreme G5 geomagnetic storm reaches Earth, NOAA says, following "unusual" solar event
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- Title
- Severe geomagnetic storm watch issued for first time in nearly 20 years amid "unusual" solar event
- Published
- May 10 2024
- Word count
- 403 words
Exceptional geomagnetic storm also means spectacular aurora borealis without leaving home!
Here's a pic I took yesterday from where I live (well, outside of the village but still) in Switzerland: https://ibb.co/fXtBLwt
That's incredible! I was hoping to catch some where I am but it rained cloudy all night. I'm hopeful that the skies may clear some tonight.
I was out of the city that night, so light pollution wasn’t a big factor. I was able to see (albeit faintly) the Aurora Australis with my own eyes even as far north as -37.4° — never seen any Aurora before, so this was a real treat to see half the sky glowing pink and green!
I don’t get these ratings. It seems this is indeed a big one. The 1989 solar flare wasn’t a G5 but was from an X15 solar flare. It caused infrastructure damage in Quebec. A Carrington Event is G5, but at the same time there is this rating system with B, C, M and X class.
I read this is an X4 class solar flare producing G5 geomagnetic storms.
Fun link: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/aurora-dashboard-experimental
Any negative repercussions as a result so far? Seems like this went by without a hitch. Makes for some amazing views and photos though.
I heard that farming in the Midwest was impacted as they use precision GPS equipment to seed/spray/harvest.
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