Geomagnetic storm subsiding

Apr 14, 2011 by Tony Phillips/Holly Zell
A sky watcher from Marquette, Michigan took this photo before sunrise today. Credit: NASA/Shawn Malone

A geomagnetic storm that sparked auroras around the Arctic Circle and sent Northern Lights spilling over the Canadian border into the United States on April 12, 2011 is subsiding. NOAA forecasters estimate a 25% chance of more geomagnetic activity during the next 24 hours.

What is a geomagnetic storm?

The Earth's is created by our magnetic field and protects us from most of the particles the emits. When a CME or high-speed stream arrives at Earth it buffets the magnetosphere. If the arriving solar magnetic field is directed southward it interacts strongly with the oppositely oriented magnetic field of the Earth. The Earth's magnetic field is then peeled open like an onion allowing energetic solar wind particles to stream down the field lines to hit the over the poles. At the Earth's surface a magnetic storm is seen as a rapid drop in the Earth's magnetic field strength. This decrease lasts about 6 to 12 hours, after which the magnetic field gradually recovers over a period of several days.

Here's another great aurora image from Fairbanks, Alaska. Credit: NASA/Warren Gammel


Explore further: Field tests in Mojave Desert pave way for human exploration of small bodies

add to favorites email to friend print save as pdf

Related Stories

Aurora alert: The Sun is waking up (w/ Video)

Aug 02, 2010

Sky viewers might get to enjoy some spectacular Northern Lights, or aurorae, tomorrow. After a long slumber, the Sun is waking up. Early Sunday morning, the Sun's surface erupted and blasted tons of plasma ...

Recommended for you

Russia retrieves mice, newts from space

4 minutes ago

A Russian capsule filled with 45 mice and 15 newts along with other small animals returned from a month's mission in orbit on Sunday with data scientists hope will pave the way for a manned flight to Mars.

Mars rover Opportunity examines clay clues in rock

May 18, 2013

(Phys.org) —NASA's senior Mars rover, Opportunity, is driving to a new study area after a dramatic finish to 20 months on "Cape York" with examination of a rock intensely altered by water.

NASA's STEREO detects a CME from the sun

May 17, 2013

On 5:24 a.m. EDT on May 17, 2013, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME, a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space that can reach Earth ...

Nine-year-old Mars rover passes 40-year-old record

May 17, 2013

While Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited Earth's moon for three days in December 1972, they drove their mission's Lunar Roving Vehicle 19.3 nautical miles (22.210 statute miles ...

Bright explosion on the Moon

May 17, 2013

For the past 8 years, NASA astronomers have been monitoring the Moon for signs of explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the lunar surface. "Lunar meteor showers" have turned out to be more common than anyone ...

User comments : 0

More news stories

Galaxy's Ring of Fire

Johnny Cash may have preferred this galaxy's burning ring of fire to the one he sang about falling into in his popular song. The "starburst ring" seen at center in red and yellow hues is not the product of ...

Fracking risks to ground water assessed

(Phys.org) —Extraction of "unconventional" gas from sedimentary rocks such as shale could provide a clean energy source and help some regions to become energy independent, but concerns have been raised ...