Northern lights could be visible soon as Earth hit by massive eruption from the Sun
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Earth has been hit by a massive eruption from the Sun – which could cause problems for infrastructure but also lead to stunning northern lights on New Year’s Eve.
A large blast of energy from the solar surface, known as a coronal mass ejection or CME, left the Sun on Sunday. It arrived on Tuesday, potentially in time to lead to the northern lights being visible at relatively southerly latitudes.
The first “shock” from the CME arrived on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA.
It said that there was the potential for both effects on infrastructure but also that the activity could lead to visible northern lights. In the UK, there could be “visible aurora across Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England dependant on cloud cover”, the country’s Met Office said, while the spectacle could be seen as far south as Maine and the upper Midwest in the US, according to its officials.
Any sectors that could be affected by the space weather – which includes agriculture, where farmers can see strange behaviour from tractors that rely on critical communications systems, for instance – have been notified “to take any necessary actions to mitigate possible impacts”, NOAA said.
The New Year’s Eve events are actually the result of a flurry of activity on the weekend of 28-29 December that saw various parts of the Sun become active and unstable. A number of flares were released during that period, and a number of CMEs were associated with it, though only two of them were expected to actually arrive at Earth.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments