Last night the awe-inspiring Northern Lights lit up the North Carolina sky for the third time this year after an exceptionally powerful coronal mass ejection from the sun blasted our magnetosphere.
One of the most epic shots you’ll ever see of the #northernlights and the #MilkyWay This was over Waynesville, NC last night. Thanks for the photo Ezekiel Coppersmith. #scwx #ncwx pic.twitter.com/t1lWFfE2Py
— Ed Piotrowski (@EdPiotrowski) November 6, 2023
The spectacle was triggered by two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — powerful bursts of solar plasma and magnetic energy erupting from the sun’s volatile regions. These bursts travel through space and, upon striking Earth, are converted by our magnetic field into the aurora, a display of lights typically seen near the poles. However, intense CMEs can push these lights further south. On Sunday at around 2 p.m. Eastern time, Earth was hit by such a geomagnetic storm. Initially, it was uncertain whether the two CMEs — a preliminary, weaker one followed by a stronger burst — had merged into a single disruptive wave. There was anticipation that the more potent CME was yet to arrive, potentially intensifying the geomagnetic disturbance. However, it later seemed that the second, more forceful CME caught up to and overpowered the first, resulting in both hitting Earth simultaneously that afternoon.
The primary CME was identified as a “full halo” event by space weather experts, meaning it appeared to explode outward in all directions from the sun. This was observed from NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a satellite that monitors solar activity, indicating the CME was Earth-directed.
Did you catch the light show last night?
