A powerful solar storm paints the skies with rare auroras
A severe geomagnetic storm sent the northern lights far south, dazzling millions who rarely see them.
A powerful solar storm lit up skies around the world this May, sending the shimmering curtains of the aurora far from their usual polar haunts and treating millions of people at unusually low latitudes to a rare celestial spectacle.
The display was the result of a severe geomagnetic storm, among the strongest in decades, triggered when the Sun hurled several massive eruptions of charged particles, known as coronal mass ejections, toward Earth. When this solar material slammed into the planet's magnetic field, it energised particles that cascaded into the upper atmosphere.
As those particles collided with gases high above the ground, they made them glow, producing the auroras — green, red and purple light rippling across the night sky. Normally confined to high latitudes near the poles, the lights were visible much farther south than usual, delighting skywatchers in places that almost never see them.
Beyond the beauty, severe geomagnetic storms carry real risks, with the potential to disrupt satellites, radio communications, navigation systems and even power grids. Operators of such systems took precautions, and the storm passed without major damage.
The event was a reminder that Earth's weather is not shaped by the atmosphere alone, but also by "space weather" driven by the Sun. As the Sun moved through an active phase of its roughly 11-year cycle, forecasters warned, more such storms — and more chances to glimpse the aurora — could lie ahead.