Scientists: Record Solar Storm Strikes Earth

By Staff, Agencies

Scientists from multiple countries reported that a powerful solar storm—the second strongest in five years and lasting more than forty hours—reached Earth this week, producing vivid Aurora Borealis displays throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

In a statement on Friday, the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences said that a massive solar flare had been registered earlier in the day. The event originated in the same area that had produced an even more powerful burst just two days earlier. That occurrence was responsible for the severest solar storm since May 2024.

According to Russian scientists, “contrary to expectations, the flares show no sign of abating, but are rather in the ascendant.”

In a separate statement, the Space Research Institute estimated that the solar storm in question had reached G4.7 level intensity on the NOAA storm scale and lasted some 42 hours. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scale is the internationally recognized system of measurement for such storms, with G5 being the highest scale denoting an “extreme” event.

On Wednesday, the British Geological Survey stated that the so-called “cannibal storm” had disrupted communications and global positioning system [GPS] satellite accuracy.

A geomagnetic storm occurs when charged particles from the sun’s atmosphere are sent hurtling toward our planet in coronal mass ejections. The latter are massive blasts of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere into space. Those electrically charged particles then strike the Earth’s magnetic field. Both technology and sensitive people can be adversely affected. 

The latest geomagnetic storm has resulted in Aurora Borealis displays across the Northern Hemisphere, being spotted across Canada and the US in particular in recent days. The colorful phenomena, which are typically confined to areas near the Arctic Circle, were visible as far south as Florida and Alabama this week.

On Friday, Space.com cited a NASA official as saying the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station [ISS] had to take cover in a more protected compartment due to an increased risk of radioactivity posed by the incoming high-energy particles.