A "cannibal" solar storm, a rare phenomenon where one solar ejection engulfs another, is on course to hit Earth and could result in auroras visible across several U.S. states, according to experts. The Space Weather Prediction Center has reported that an ejection released from the sun could travel at speeds over 2 million miles per hour, potentially sparking a northern lights display far south of its usual horizon. FOX 10 Phoenix notes that residents of Arizona, among others, may have a chance to witness these colorful sky phenomena.
On the heels of a powerful monsoon storm in the Phoenix area, the skies could once again become a canvas, this time for a dance of celestial light rather than the oppressive onset of rain. This solar activity comes after sunspot 4204 near the sun's equator produced a long-lasting M-class solar flare, leading to the ejection of a fast-moving cloud of magnetized plasma identified as heading straight for Earth, as reported by Live Science.
The auroras, otherwise known as the northern lights, are expected to paint the skies with hues of green, purple, and pink. The display, according to one space weather enthusiast, McCarthy, is an instantaneous phenomenon unlike many other natural spectacles. "When these high energy particles hit the atmosphere in these big waves, suddenly everything just lights up and it moves in real time like most of the videos you see aren’t time-lapses, it actually does move that fast, almost like water," McCarthy told FOX 10 Phoenix.
According to a recent forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, the incoming geomagnetic storm may reach a G2 class, with the potential to escalate to G3 class. "The heart of the whole situation is the orientation of that magnetic field in the CME. But if it turns or goes south, then you connect. Then all that energy drives these forces and we can really escalate quickly in these geomagnetic storms," Dahl explained to FOX 10 Phoenix. People can monitor the solar storm in real time via spaceweather.gov.
