Like Alice in Wonderland, the northern lights in Central Oregon are jaw-dropping
In Central Oregon, a powerful solar storm brought the northern lights. People were in wonder at what they observed Friday night throughout the area. And it appeared most people could enjoy the spectacle whether they were at home or far from civilization, despite the usual advice to avoid the city lights.
The Bend and Redmond city lights in the distance provided only a little diversion from Pine Mountain Observatory, one of the greatest viewing spots.
Lovely bit of Northern Lights action outside of bloody London.😍 pic.twitter.com/hTxesW1F5y
— Lauren Layfield (@LaurenLayfield) May 10, 2024
There were several happy expressions and gasps heard.
In Central Oregon, a powerful solar storm brought the northern lights. People were in wonder at what they observed Friday night throughout the area. And it appeared most people could enjoy the spectacle whether they were at home or far from civilization, despite the usual advice to avoid the city lights.
The Bend and Redmond city lights in the distance provided only a little diversion from Pine Mountain Observatory, one of the greatest viewing spots. Watchers also noted that when they snapped pictures with their phones, they could see far more of the color than they could with their unaided eyes.
“There might actually be a nice little treat there for you,” said Mike Bettwy, operations chief of the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
An extraordinarily powerful solar storm striking Earth produced the lights. Rarely has NOAA issued a severe geomagnetic storm warning. The effects should last through the weekend and possibly into the next week.
Strongest aurora in 20 years this evening.
This is the astounding view as far south as Switzerland a short while ago …on top of Jungfraujoch 😍😍
via https://t.co/XN8jh4HhE1 pic.twitter.com/kQMxGYa6LE
— Matt Taylor (@MetMattTaylor) May 10, 2024
Saturday night between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., astronomer Bob Grossfeld informs Central Oregon Daily News, the northern lights may be seen over the High Desert.
I doubt it will be as colorful as it was on Friday. As to NOAA, on Saturday, the view line will move farther north.
The storm may cause disruptions to electricity and communication networks. Not only did NOAA notify the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but also spacecraft operators in orbit and power plants.
(Nexstar) As far as solar weather goes, this month has been active, and now experts are saying we may witness the greatest result of all the northern lights. The aurora is predicted to shimmer over most of the United States, even to a seldom-seen southern extent.
The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of NOAA has been keeping an eye on a lot of solar flares and coronal mass ejections since May 1. Few appear to have been as powerful as the X5 flare seen on New Year’s Eve, but they have all caused several geomagnetic storm warnings.
Aurora in Omsk oblast, Russia.
Photo: https://t.co/R3axazVG30 pic.twitter.com/TanJWTYWq5— Kirill Bakanov (@WeatherSarov1) May 10, 2024
With strong enough coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, the SWPC issued a G4 geomagnetic storm watch on Thursday in advance of their expected arrival. Though “very rare,” the SWPC said, this alert level may also ignite a spectacular celestial display in the days ahead.
Will you soon get the opportunity to witness the northern lights, and what does this all signify. We’ll explain.
Absolutely biblical skies in Tasmania at 4am this morning. I’m leaving today and knew I could not pass up this opportunity for such a large solar storm. Here’s the image. I actually had to de-saturate the colours. Clouds glowing red. Insane. Shot on Nikon. Rt appreciated pic.twitter.com/210hlkmoeg
— Sean O' Riordan (@seanorphoto) May 10, 2024
Just what are coronal mass ejections and solar flares?
“Generally lasting minutes to hours, a flare is an eruption of energy from the sun,” the SWPC says. According to NASA, they are ranked from B-class at the lowest end to C-class, M-class, and eventually X-class based on their strengths. Every class, save for X-class, has a scale of 1 to 9 and each letter denotes a ten-fold increase in energy production. There have been X-class flares larger than nine; the biggest one ever documented was an X45 that happened in 2003.
while everyone in the europe was seeing the northern lights, here in australia the southern lights (aka aurora australis) lit up the sky early this morning pic.twitter.com/EWhzMX1iAL
— sara⁷🍊 (@xapobangpo7) May 10, 2024
The stunning solar event is expected to be visible to U.S. residents in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut starting around 8 p.m., but will be most visible between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., according to the NY Daily News.
The geomagnetic storm is expected to last through the weekend.
