Nasa reveals mesmerising footage of Northern Lights from ISS amid ‘severe’ geomagnetic storm warning
A NASA astronaut has revealed a stunning timelapse of the Northern Lights taken from the ISS.
And the footage comes just ahead of another geomagnetic storm which is expected to leave spellbinding views once again.
A fast coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the Sun on Tuesday and is likely to arrive at Earth today, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
As a result, aurora borealis – commonly known as Northern Lights – are expected across parts of the UK and US.
The Met Office told The Sun that the spectacle is “likely” to be visible from the UK.
“There is a chance of visible auroras over parts of the UK on Thursday night and in the early hours of Friday morning,” said Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon.
“While the exact arrival time of the coronal mass ejection is open to some uncertainty, there are likely aurora sightings in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with a chance of some sightings in the north of England and slightly further south with long-exposure photography.
“Residual influence from the coronal mass ejection means aurora sightings remain possible on Saturday night, though this will be more confined to Scotland, where some rain and cloud could obscure viewing potential for some.”
There have been several mesmerising displays visible from both sides of the Atlantic already this year.
But flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.
Last night, NOAA classified today’s geomagnetic storm as G4 (severe).
Dr Steph Yardley, from Northumbria University, said we could see displays as good as May’s Northern Lights show – but we will only know this for certain when it is about to impact Earth.
“The Sun is being particularly active again leading to a rare and severe G4 geomagnetic storm watch being issued,” he said.
“Apart from spectacular displays of the aurora, these eruptive events can cause a whole range of disruption to our technological systems and hence our everyday lives.
“Examples include, but are not limited to, blackouts of high frequency radio communications and navigation issues across wide areas caused by solar flares, ground induced currents that affect the power grids caused by geomagnetic storms, and a radiation risk for astronauts, passengers and crew in aircraft flying at high altitudes close to the poles due to energetic particles.
“We know that the Starlink satellites reported more outages occurring at the same time of the X-class flare this morning.”
Dr Steph Yardley also warned that the possible disruption could cause issues for Hurricane Milton relief efforts.
Millions across Florida have been left without power after winds of up to 120mph swept through towns leaving a trail of destruction.
“We saw a very similar situation to this in 2017 when three hurricanes hit the Caribbean region and solar flares disrupted radio communications,” he continued.
“This shows that the impact of space weather at Earth can not only be far reaching but that extreme space weather and weather events do not play well together.”
Auroras – how do they work?
Here's the official explanation from Nasa...
- The dancing lights of the auroras provide spectacular views on the ground, but also capture the imagination of scientists who study incoming energy and particles from the sun
- Auroras are one effect of such energetic particles.
- These particles can speed out from the sun from giant eruptions known as coronal mass ejections or CMEs and solar flares, explosions of radiation on the sun.
- After a trip toward Earth that can last two to three days, the solar particles and magnetic fields cause the release of particles already trapped near Earth, which in turn trigger reactions in the upper atmosphere in which oxygen and nitrogen molecules release photons of light
- The result: the Northern and Southern lights.