Lights in the Sky

On Friday night/Saturday morning (May 10/11, 2024), the most significant G5 geomagnetic storm since 2003 hit the Earth causing several coronal mass ejections, or CMEs and allowing many across the U.S. to see northern lights where they usually can’t.

A geomagnetic storm is a disturbance in the Earth’s magnetosphere caused by solar wind activity. Wind from these storms can cause aurora in the sky, in addition to possible disturbances in satellite communications. When CMEs (which are explosions of plasma and magnetic material from the sun) reach Earth, they carry with them their own magnetic field. This has the potential of impacting power grids and radio communications.

Erich – KK6ES submitted the following report and photos:

“Once I left the city lights of Stockton on my way home to Valley Springs, I noticed a red hue on the horizon that couldn’t have been from man made lights. I pulled over on Hwy 26 in a clearing in between Linden and Valley Springs and used my iPhone 14 to capture these photos. I found it interesting how my eye couldn’t really see the details that the camera was able to capture, not to mention I was pretty amazed how well the iPhone camera handled night time photography.”