Solar storm to deliver brilliant aurora just before New Year’s Eve

However, strong aurora borealis are expected to light up the first week of 2016, due to a coronal hole, a region where the solar wind is allowed to leave the sun faster than normal and which sparks strong displays, according to the NorrskenSverige blog. Space Weather forecasters are downplaying the solar spot eruption, but “End of the World” theorists say the timing is suspect. Only the biggest, meanest CME’s from the sun create auroras for Ohio.

“Sunspot AR2374 has an unstable “beta-gamma” magnetic field that could explode again in the hours ahead”, said NASA’s Tony Phillips at SpaceWeather.com.

The newest models give us our best bet to catch the lights here in the Pacific Northwest: A delayed geomagnetic storm with visible peaks overnight Wednesday.

If we are lucky and the storm is strong enough and lasts until entering our planet’s upper atmosphere we could witness another cosmic show, the last of this year after being sure the full moon on Christmas was going to be the last sky event of the year. Solar material streams out through the interplanetary medium, impacting any planet or spacecraft in its path. CMEs are sometimes associated with flares but can occur independently. “It’s certainly possible”, NOAA physicist Terry Onsager told SFGATE.

Nevertheless, NOAA explained that the storm needs to have a certain strength for the northern lights to be visible from lower latitudes. If it turns out to be stronger than that, it could be seen. The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emits light of varying colour and complexity.

What will happen is that the solar particles brought by the CME, which are like bubbles of plasma, will impact our atmosphere and generate auroras. Flares are also sites where particles (electrons, protons, and heavier particles) are accelerated.

Solar activity associated with Space Weather can be divided into four main components: solar flares, coronal mass ejections, high-speed solar wind, and solar energetic particles.

The resulting radiation reached Earth on Wednesday, early in the morning, and its effects could last until News Year’s Day.