Alert Aurora! Pair of CME to shake the Earth’s magnetic field

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Aurora Alert: image of the animated spaceship of the sun, with a giant plasma arc coming out of it.
Alert Aurora! A huge filament from a large region of sunspots (AR 2860) exploded on 28 August. Its resulting coronal mass ejection, or CME — a superheated gas bubble from our sun — joined an earlier CME, created in a solar flare from that same region in the sun earlier that day. Now both CMEs are on their way. They are expected to cause a beautiful display of auroras. Image via SpaceWeather.com.

Aurora alert for high latitudes

SpaceWeather.com says this morning (September 1, 2021) that two huge bubbles of superheated gas from our sun, also known as coronal mass ejections or CME, are heading for Earth. There is no danger to us on Earth. And these CMEs are not strong enough to eliminate satellites or power grids. But they are about to give a “shock” to the magnetic field of our planet, causing a beautiful display of auroras at high latitudes. SpaceWeather said:

Estimated time of arrival: 1-2 September. NOAA forecasters expect geomagnetic storms as strong as the G2 category. This means that people as far south as Idaho and New York (geomagnetic latitude 55 degrees) could see auroras.

As early as last week, solar observers began to notice that solar activity was increasing, as the 12860 solar active region (AR 2860) produced 8 Class C solar flares. August, at 5:30 UTC (1:30 am EDT), the region produced a larger M4.7 solar flare. The flare was easily visible in the angstrom wavelength band of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. It showed solar plasma temperatures above 10 million degrees. The event created a minor radio shutdown next to the Earth, facing the sun (see illustration below). The event created a coronal mass expulsion (CME) directed toward the Earth. However, this CME was not expected to cause much effect in the region around the Earth.

We were now directed by 2 CMEs

But later that day, as SpaceWeather explained, a massive filament of magnetism exploded in the sun. And this huge electrified gas arc in the solar atmosphere produced a second CME aimed at the Earth. Now, the two CMEs move through space in tandem to Earth. SpaceWeather said:

NOAA forecasts expect CMEs to deliver a separate double hit per hour. The first CME could cause a minor G1 class geomagnetic storm in late September.

Storms like these do not affect power grids or satellites. However, they can produce beautiful auroras at high latitudes. A light show is possible in Scandinavia, Iceland, Canada and even some northern level American states.

Upload your aurora photos to the EarthSky community page

Images from the August 28 event

Map of the Earth's surface, with much of it centered in India covered by colorful concentric spots: the dull region.
The brand new M4.7 solar AR 2860 caused minor radio outages on 28 August. That is, it caused a weak degradation of high-frequency radio communication and low-frequency navigation signals. Sunspot data is SDO HMI visible light data from solarmonitor.org and flare data is GOES radiographs provided by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). The radio shutdown region comes from NOAA SWPC.
Diagram of the sun, with the location of the AR12860 marked.
The 12860 solar active region produced large flares on August 28 and two subsequent coronal mass expulsions (CMEs) aimed at the Earth. CMEs are expected to hit the Earth’s magnetosphere, creating a good aurora display by September 1 and 2, 2021.

Aurora alert. Here is the AR 2860 on August 30th

Image of a portion of sun, showing a large sunspot.
See EarthSky Community Photos. | Victor Rogus, of Sedona, Arizona, captured AR 2860 on August 30, 2021. As the sun rotates, this region gets closer to the extremity or edge of the sun. Soon, the rotation of the sun will take her out of sight. Victor wrote: “As you saw me right now, through thin clouds, the AR 2860 sunspot is big … The group of sunspots has more than a dozen dark nuclei stretching over 200,000 km [125,000 miles] of stellar landscape “. Thank you, Victor!

Summary: Aurora Alert. Two AR 12860 CMEs cross space toward Earth and are expected to create a beautiful display of auroras at high latitudes.

About the author:

C. Alex Young is a solar astrophysicist who studies the Sun and space-time. Alex is passionate about sharing science with diverse audiences. This led him to start The Sun Today with his designer wife, Linda. First via Facebook and Twitter and then by adding an extensive thesuntoday.org website, the two work together to engage the public about the Sun and its role in our solar system. Alex leads a heliophysics education team and leads national efforts to commit to the solar eclipse. He is the associate director of science in the heliophysics science division of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Deborah Byrd

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About the author:

Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Today she is the editor-in-chief of this website. He has won a galaxy of awards from the scientific and broadcasting communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in his honor. A communicator and science educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. “Being an EarthSky editor is like organizing a big world party for nature lovers,” she says.

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