The aurora put on a show over Philly Thursday night, and here’s what people saw. More to come?
A "severe" geomagnetic storm finally turned on the northern lights over Philly. And an active sun may mean more shows in the near future.
It took a “severe” level geomagnetic storm from the hyperactive sun to turn on the lights, but at long last the aurora borealis put on a spectacular rose and purple-ish show over the Philadelphia region Thursday evening for the first time in over 20 years.
The rare sky show was apparent in all 48 of the contiguous United States, according to EarthSky.org — the result of a powerful geomagnetic storm that arrived at 11:15 a.m. Philadelphia time Thursday and quickly intensified.
Geomagnetic storms are ignited by “sunspots” — massive disturbances that eject billions of tons of solar material toward earth. Sunspots erupt in 11-year cycles, and scientists at the Space Weather Prediction Center say that this cycle, which began in 2019 is at or near its zenith.
While no aurora sightings are expected around here Friday night, more of these shows are possible in the near future, said Bennett A. Maruca, a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Delaware.
“The sun remains very active — we’re only about halfway through solar maximum — so there are plenty more opportunities for additional storms,” he said.
Officials feared that the storm might be intense enough to affect power grids, but Space Weather scientist Robert Steenburgh said Friday that no issues had been reported so far.
Its immediate impact over Philly was a period of absolute awe, as the undulating curtains of light took over the night sky.
Here are some images from our readers and social media posts.
The show varied considerably in intensity.