"A series of eruptions from the Sun, known as coronal mass ejections, sparked dazzling auroral light shows Tuesday night. The eruptions sent a blast of material from the Sun, including charged particles with a strong localized magnetic field, toward the Earth at more than 1 million mph, or more than 500 kilometers per second. Satellites detected the most recent strong coronal mass ejection, accompanied by a bright solar flare, early Tuesday."
"The storm arriving Wednesday was the "most energetic" of all the recent coronal mass ejections, Dahl said. It's also traveling at higher speed, fast enough to cover the 92 million-mile gulf between the Sun and the Earth in less than two days. Forecasters predict a G4 level, or severe, geomagnetic storm Wednesday into Thursday, with a slight chance of a rarer extreme G5 storm, something that has only happened once in the last two decades."
Coronal mass ejections from the Sun sent charged particles with a strong localized magnetic field toward Earth at more than 1 million mph (over 500 kilometers per second). Satellites detected a recent strong coronal mass ejection accompanied by a bright solar flare. Two earlier waves already arrived and were significantly stronger than anticipated. The eruptions produced auroras visible as far south as Texas, Florida, and Mexico. A faster, most energetic eruption was expected to arrive within two days, prompting forecasters to predict a G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm with a slight chance of a rarer G5 event. Geomagnetic disturbances can disrupt power grids, GPS, and radio communications and can affect satellites.
Read at Ars Technica
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