1:50 PM | Strong geomagnetic storm currently underway and it could cause northern lights into this evening...Friday will feature three celestial events

[Northern lights seen earlier today in northern Alaska; courtesy spaceweather.com]

Discussion

Northern Lights and an ongoing geomagnetic storm

Despite an overall quiet look to the sun, a coronal mass ejection (CME) hit the earth’s magnetic field earlier today sparking bright auroras across many northern latitude locations around the world including the northern tier of the US. The sun is currently featuring just one noticeable sunspot region (circled area) and it is from here that the current geomagnetic storm originated. At first, the impact generated a relatively mild "G1-class" geomagnetic field, but then it intensified into a “G4-class” ranking it as the strongest geomagnetic storm of the current solar cycle (#24).

[Current image of the sun with sunspot region circled; courtesy spaceweather.com]

This storm could continue for many hours to come as the earth passes through the turbulent wake of the CME. Should the storm continue at its current intensity into the evening hours, northern lights could even be visible (in dark areas) as far south as the I-95 corridor. Skies should clear out this evening in the I-95 corridor following an Arctic cold frontal passage.

Friday will feature three celestial events

There will be three celestial events this Friday including a total solar eclipse, a "new supermoon", and the spring equinox, but none of these will actually present anything visible around here. In fact, the total solar eclipse will be seen by very few people as it's visible path - while unusually wide and long - will mostly pass over the open North Atlantic Ocean. A Supermoon, or perigee moon, happens when the full or new moon does its closest fly-by of the Earth, making it look bigger than it normally does. There are actually six supermoons during 2015, but only three of them are visible during the full moon phase. The supermoon this Friday will not be visible as it will occur during the new moon phase. And the spring equinox refers to the time of the year when the day and night are of equal duration, mid-way between the longest and shortest days.