The aurora borealis is already appearing. However, conditions in Slovakia are deteriorating
The geomagnetic storm expected next night has not yet occurred. Probably our planet was hit by the edge of a coronal cloud, which brings aurora borealis to Scandinavia, while conditions in Slovakia are deteriorating.
On Thursday evening, a large solar flare occurred in the Sun. The sun is currently more active and is currently in its 11-year cycle, in which solar flares will increase until 2024-2025. During Thursday’s eruption, which belonged to the current ones, the Sl plasma was ejected by a cloud of coronal plasma, which headed for the Earth.
This cloud was supposed to reach our planet during the night, but according to the latest measurements and hit our planet coronal mass only by its edge.
The growth of the Earth’s magnetic field
In order for a geomagnetic storm to form on Earth, which, incidentally, was predicted to be relatively strong for this night, category G3, several conditions must be met.
There must be a strong solar flare, which releases the coronal mass, which must then head towards the Earth. This also happened and this cloud with a speed of about 800 km / s began to move towards the Earth. Although these conditions have been met, this does not guarantee that the geomagnetic storm is involved and associated with the aurora.
At a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from Earth is the ACE spacecraft, which is extremely important to us. It monitors the speed of the solar wind and other essential parameters. This probe is the first to inform us on Earththat a cloud of coronal mass is approaching, which can cause a geomagnetic storm and aurora borealis. As soon as this cloud reaches the probe, so be it in about 30-60 minutes a geomagnetic storm starts to occur if aurora borealis occurs.
However, current data do not show that there is no change in the solar wind in strong honey. If this happens, the speed will suddenly increase from about 330 km / s to about 800 km / s. The current speed of the solar wind is around 380 km / s. There is an obvious upward trend, but that is not enough for the aurora borealis in Slovakia.
apparently arrived only the edge of the coronal cloud, what data, source: NOAA
The aurora borealis will probably not occur in Slovakia
There are two possible causes. According to our entire planet, it probably only affected the edge of the coronal mass, which was reflected in the above-mentioned data. However, this is not enough for the occurrence of aurora borealis in our latitudes, including Slovakia. The second possibility is that the arrival of coronal mass was delayed more than originally expected.
It is not excluded that the situation will change during the night hours and there will be a more significant increase in the solar wind and aurora borealis could also appear in Slovakia, but there is one problem that can cause the visibility of aurora borealis and it represents the Moon. This is because it is starting to come out at 00:00 and significantly worsen the conditions for observation. It will be very difficult or impossible to see the aurora borealis from Slovakia.
Based on current data, aurora borealis can occur in Russia, Scotland, Greenland, Iceland, or.
The aurora borealis is currently occurring in Finland, for example, which you can watch live.