Northern Lights Intensify

The northern green lights dance at night over the glacier lagoon Jokulsarlon, Aurora Polaris, Iceland

A major solar flare storm is expected this weekend. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center on Thursday issued a G4 geomagnetic storm watch, saying two separate regions of the sun are expected to produce “multiple” X1-level solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which will merge and arrive on Earth late Friday. Bill Murtagh, a program coordinator for the SWPC, describes coronal mass ejections as “essentially the Sun shooting a magnet out into space.” While the phrase “geomagnetic storm” may sound a bit daunting, it’s actually responsible for Earth’s most famous light show, the Aurora Borealis. Because of the increased activity this weekend, the Northern Lights should be visible to a large swatch of the world that can’t normally see it, NASA reports. Like Michigan and Idaho, maybe even Kentucky. What’s the most amazing thing you’ve seen in the sky?

More here: https://www.space.com/solar-storm-coronal-mass-ejections-mothers-day-weekend-storm-watch