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Chad Blakley / Lights Over Lapland
Auroral lights glow in the skies over Sweden's Abisko National Park on Jan. 13.
It might sound scary to hear that a giant blob of solar plasma is heading straight for us, but don't panic: Space weather forecasters say this solar outburst should deliver nothing more than a spectacular show up north.
"We're not going to be in for a big disturbance," said Norm Cohen, senior forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado. "The northern tier of the United States might be able to see aurorae."
The outburst of electrically charged plasma — also known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME — blasted out from the sun on Jan. 13, sparking a radio blackout. It's taken several days for the blob itself to travel the 93 million miles between the sun and here, but forecasters now expect it to sweep over Earth's magnetic field early to midday Thursday.
When strong solar storms interact with the magnetosphere, they can spark satellite outages and disrupt electric power grids. Fortunately, this one shouldn't be that strong. (In geekspeak, let's just say that the maximum Kp is expected to reach no higher than 4. NOAA's space weather scale lays out the effects associated with higher Kp levels. Check out the prediction center's Facebook page for space weather updates.)
The most visible effect should be the northern lights generated by the interaction between the electrically charged solar particles and atoms in Earth's upper atmosphere, as explained on the "Causes of Color" website. This week's geomagnetic flare-up should add to what's already been a great week for auroral displays in northern latitudes.
Chad Blakley, a photographer at Sweden's Abisko National Park, sent in the beauty you see above. "It looks like there may be more powerful auroras in the days ahead," Blakley said in an email. "It is a very good time to be an aurora photographer!"
For more of Blakley's beauties, check out the Lights Over Lapland website or the LOL Facebook page.
Glowing reports are coming in from space as well. Here's a picture captured by the Department of Defense's DMSP F-18 OLS low-light imager on Jan. 13. The green outlines show Ireland and Britain down south, and Iceland and Scandinavia up north. The ghostly wisps crossing the frame are the northern lights. It's conceivable that the bright streaks you see in this satellite picture are the same ones visible in Blakley's pictures.
DOD via Mark Conner / SpaceWeather.com
The northern lights show up as ghostly streaks of white in a satellite picture captured on Jan. 13 by a low-light imager on the Defense Department's DMSP F-18 meteorological satellite.
Aurora photographer Chad Blakley (www.lightsoverlapland.com) shot this time lapse of an aurora shimmering through the clouds over Abisko National Park in Sweden on the night of Jan. 13. The video was assembled from nearly 3,000 still images.
Are there more solar blasts heading our way? SpaceWeather.com notes that a complex sunspot region known as AR1654 is pointing in our direction and has the potential to send more big blobs of plasma our way. But Cohen said the worries about that particular sunspot have been receding.
"It's been fairly quiet in terms of flare production," he said. "If anything, it's beginning to show signs of decay."
In fact, there's been increasing talk that this year's expected peak of the sun's 11-year activity cycle could be relatively wimpy. Cohen said he didn't want to make that sweeping of a prediction — but he did admit that there hasn't been as much disruption as some people might have feared.
"The activity hasn't been all that impressive yet," he said.
More auroral glories:
- Top spots to see the northern lights
- Video: Northern lights captured on camera
- Cosmic Log archive on auroras
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
man thats cool i hope they televise it that is an event that shows the true beauty of our world
ps
could oil actually be the liquid form of coal
if this theory is true it does open some questions up about fuel costs
quick question-everyone sees the light at the end of the tunnel
well if thats the case whats the other way look like - wouldn't there be two tunnels if Heaven exists hell has to as well
what happens the other way????? who would be stupid enough to do that
i
Pass the bong over here, man!
Actually, while this one may be small, CMEs can actually be very dangerous. If one large enough hits us it can take out the entire power grid of the Northern Hemisphere... if that happened it could take months if not years to get it back up. Back to the 1800's in one sweep.
Unless, of course, we start working on a way to mitigate that risk... but, like climate change, we won't do anything. Why? Well, because having a warm car in the morning is much more important than people's lives.
Sick of the Situation, hand it over here when your done, cause he don't need no more!
Cogito, how would it take years to restore the power grid? Even assuming that literally the entire grid goes down, the actual infrastructure wouldn't be destroyed.
While it's possible that our government vastly underestimates the danger of solar CMEs, I find it much more likely that you're overestimating the risk.
SF,
The reason it could take years is because one could blow every transformer in the U.S. The infrastructure is vulnerable...
Sorry... I can't post the bloody link.. but if you do a Google search for "CME destroy the power grid popular mechanics" a good article will be the first result.
hmmm, we now have worldwide weather forecasting, and then it even gets Bigger; Universe Atmospheric Conditions !!..an idea; Create more Jobs !!!
CogitoErgo
Not exactly. You might not have power in your home but hospitals and many other places would run on generators and I suspect solar panels and wind turbines would fly off the shelves. And of course we'd all still have cars and every other modern convenience that doesn't need to be plugged into the wall. It would suck for most of us but it wouldn't be anything like living in the 1800's.
CogitoErgo
That feature is disabled for new users but it looks like you've been around for a while. Go to the "contact us" page and tell them you want to post links and they will enable it for you.
WTF, mlcadle??? You just short circuited my brain, man!!! lol
Um, Backcountry, a CME would likely fry the control circuits in generators, and would kill the electronics in your car. Old tech might still work, but most of the other stuff would be toast.
The Amish would survive it pretty well. The rest of us, not so much.
Thanks for the info on posting links Backcountry... And thanks EarlyOut for responding as I would have...
A CME is the single most devistating earth and society effecting natural disaster that we will likely experiance. Only a small fraction of US power infastructure can survive it, and the rest of the world would be plunged into darkness for the next 10+ years. Power transformers are in high demand, and even cities here in the US are backorded in years advance, once a (negitive charges, I believe) CME stickes the world, its like having a nuclear bomb going off in the atmosphere. The air becomes charged, and power starts building in electronics and power lines, once they reach their max points; circutes burn, Transformers explode, bulbs blow, and metal object become electrically charged (This is the only dangerous part of the CME to humans next to any radiation, and the charges can have the power to kill). The only electronics that will survive are heavy duty AC motors, harden electronics, and electronics in Faraday cages.
Generators will not survive, most all cars made after the 70's won't ever run again (Those made 70's and earlier will need possibly new distributor, ignition, and starter parts to run again). Your PCs, Laptops, and overpriced fruit notebook, TVs and radios, cell phones and telephones, most GPS, they will no longer work ever again.
Look up the Kerrington Event in the 1800's, the air became so charged it even burned down telegraph houses because the wires got so hot. If that were to happen to us now, kiss all electronics goodbye, you'd be 72 hours from the end of the world as you know it as sosciety colaps and people start prey on each other.
PS, mlcadle
Simple answer, Kerogen shale is the solid form of oil, not coal. Coal is fossilized cardon.
Cool links. Thanks, Alan.
"Coronal mass ejection" .... sounds pornographic.
All it meens is that the star we live arround otherwise known as the sun has spit out a chunk of itself. Much like an explosion spits up dirt. The sun can spit up parts of it self. But in the sun's case it is made of nothing more than the plasma that it spits durring this or any CME.
Why dose every one have to take every thing to the gutter?
Because those people are mind in the gutter idiots!!
What an AWESOME display of lights!!!
How beautiful. I think I'd like to go and visit Sweden just to see images like in the video.
You mean there hasn't been as much disruption as you toot the horn types predicted. So I'm gonna place your overreactions on the shelf next to the dooms dayers. What a bunch of drama queens you all are!
Maybe it won't happen during this solar cycle, but of all the wild doomsday scenarios that get tossed out by some of the fringe loonies, the possibility of a really damaging CME is probably the most plausible. It's happened before, and not all that long ago - Google the solar storm of 1859. The effects of a similar event today, given how dependent we all are on the power grid and our communications, would be pretty catastrophic. The evidence is sketchy, but it looks like similar events occur on an average of once every 500 years. That's an average, of course. It could happen tomorrow.
Most of the other doomsday scenarios fall into the "once in a million years, if that often" category, or are just complete fantasy. But just think about what it would be like to have no electricity, not just for a few days, but for months. Ugly.
EarlyOut - If it was a large-scale blackout for months, ugly does not even begin to describe what would happen.
Two sides of that coin... If there are fewer sun spots in this cycle it could mean a mini ice age. The lack of sun spots and their activity is potentially worrisome because this has happened in the past. If a mini ice age happens food shortages and crop failures world wide will make last years drought look desirable in comparison.
@Sick of the Situation, that's right. The failure of water systems would start producing deaths within days. Food production, processing, and delivery would cease, leading to widespread famine. A nice, quick, huge meteor strike or supervolcano would be preferable.
EarlyOut,
No natural gas for heat, no sewage treatment, people running out of their psychotropic meds and going nuts, people streaming out of the cities into the suburbs looking for supplies. widespread looting and riots. This would be the worst disaster in recorded history. Once the bodies start piling up and people start drinking contaminated water, disease would kill off a large percentage of those (un)fortunate enough to make it a few weeks into the problem. Law and order would not exist and everyone would be pretty much on their own. We have become completely dependant upon the fragile infrastructure in place and not many have the knowledge to farm and raise animals like they did a hundred or two hundred years ago. And do you think we still build our own transformers here in the states or produce the raw materials needed like we used to? It could be years or decades before things begin resembling agian what they look like today. Frightening thought...
Be safe out there!
glendala516, there has plenty of destruction. Most doesn't make news because they don't always hit the US. But plenty of contries have been hit during its peek. The point of that specific statment ment that it was less then what the scientists thought, not that there was no destruction over the cycle or anything as bad as the Kerrington effect was.
You might call them "dooms dayers", but the earth HAS been hit with a massive CME, and will get hit again. We are in the line of fire, its not a if, its a when, and people like me would perfer the gov to get on it before we do have an issue.
Although a CME can be a "dooms dayers" event, if we put a little time and effort we can turn it into a minor annoyance. But people like you that cliam everyone is running around pretending the sky is falling, is the real reson there is no race to harden our infrastucture.
"Dogs and cats, living together..."
Dr. Peter Venkman
I think I saw this movie on TV.
We seem to get a tiny glimpse of the Lights about once a decade here in the Lake Tahoe area. Hoping this will be one of those times.
There's NOTHING "wimpy" about the sun. Trust me on this.
Hi Alan. Thanks for bringing us another piece of fascination today! I have a technical observation about the format of this article. It does not "fit" onto the screen of my monitor as your articles typically do. I must move the slide bar to the right to align the article in order to read it. Have you formatted differently, and can you correct the size?
Hmm, I'll have to check into that. This one is actually posted as a Photoblog to take advantage of the 900-pixel photo width ... that may be the reason.
"It's been fairly quiet in terms of flare production," he said. "If anything, it's beginning to show signs of decay."//
Sin caused death in this realm , in this paradigm of our good and evil consciousness. Because of sin things are decaying, not "evolving". The real evolution is Christ the Second Adam what we can become "again" the gift of God which reveals and offers the wholeness of His original Creation. The yet to be is more than eyes can see. Science is finding out and describing a tremendous amount of what has already been here, that is decay. Keep up the good work but the Lord already has a plan of regeneration, man cannot create like that only mimic what he clones and/or sees in nature - which should be evidence of the designer. This is no accident. Wake up America wake up world! God so loves the world. Whoever believes in the One and Only Son He sent will not perish.
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to attribute this beautiful display to God's displeasure with us.
Give it a rest.
Barabas
Good godddddddddddddddd!
Not again please stop?
LOL cheers all
Go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here.
hundreds of gods preists molested children, was that part of the plan too?
That sounds like a CHALLENGE to me.
If God exists, then it is mankind's goal to surpass Him. He made this flawed world, mired in chaos and flush with raw materials. Humans are the ones that shaped it into order and prosperity, not God.
Will someone wake me up in the morning when this is over? I have to be at work by 7:00am.
Your time stamp says you're not going to get much sleep. Why not just stay up and have another cup of coffee?
sorry I just laughed milk out my nose while reading Barabas comment
chaga - you find humor in what you don't understand - so you insult on reflex - hope you find the truth of this reality - soon - - -
We understand it, and it's stupid.
New Gawker
Touché!
This would be so fascinating to watch; however, in the SE part of the US we probably will not see it due to our own "atmospheric disruptions" - it is grey and gloomy, rainy, sleety and snowing - been grey for over 9 days now I think. How I wish it would be visible, but not to be for us at this time. For those of you lucky enough to witness it, have a blast (no pun intended). Have a great day all, stay safe, and dry and warm.
And of course, the highest concentration is going to be during the daytime - forget about the Northern lights! All in all, this sounds like pretty much of a ho-hum event - I remember one time back in the late 1950's or early 1960's, seeing the Northern lights from my home in West Virginia - pretty far south!
Unfortunately, I live too far south to see the Northern Lights and wonderful displays such as this one.
During the Solar Storm of 1859, people in the Caribbean were seeing auroras! HO-LEE COW!!!
The north light occurs through the most of the winter in the arctic parts of the world. Even without a CME..
Here's a few of my Aurora pictures, all from 2013:
What a wonderful display of light in the night sky.
Good video thank you.
Mr. Olsen in Norway,
The problem that you are having posting your link is do to the fact that Newsvine blocks them on new accounts to help prevent advertising and such :( Usually if you make a few friends and even seed an article or create original content then ask Sally or Tyler (News Vine Moderators) via email they will allow you to post links.
To get around this for now just paste your link and put a - within the http. Like this: h-ttp://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/16/16549532-a-solar-blob-is-coming-but-this-show-wont-be-scary#comments then if it is still highlighted move the cursor to the end and hit the backspace key one time just to clear the highlight without deleting and letters or numbers. This should clear the highlight and change the link to standard text:)
BTW- I looked at your Newsvine page and the picture is breathtaking..........Thank You for sharing:)
Regards,
Brandon
h -
Well, this is some of my pic from 2013
I Think Barabas is TRIPPING! No,No, I KNOW Barabas is TRIPPING! He's FLARING!
It might sound scary to hear that a giant blob of solar plasma is heading straight for us, but don't panic: Space weather forecasters say it's just High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP)
there's doomsday preppers who's anticipating solar flares will destroy much of the earth. those guys must be freaking out right now. As well as religious nut jobs like Barabas.
We're all gonna die!!! *snicker*
But we ARE all going to die. And that's not funny.
Sad face.
Do they ever call the Auroras the southern lights ?
They probably do when they appear over the South pole.
Do they ever call the Auroras the southern lights ? No, you can only see southern Auroras when you drink Billy Bob's moonshine...
Blonde?
Yes, Needle. They are called 'aurora australis'. Here's a link to the video.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0920/Southern-Lights-Aurora-Australias-A-rare-video-from-above
I love how it looks like the ISS' solar panels are being lifted up & out of the way of the aurora.
Thanks Tom-1921301-1921301 .
That was a nice photo link .
I had to throw that question out here .
; )
@Tom-1921301-1921301,
First that link is VERY COOL !!! I saved it since it looks like they have some other good articles too. They really seem to like Auroras at their website :)
" I love how it looks like the ISS' solar panels are being lifted up & out of the way of the aurora."
I agree it does look amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Actually they do call them the Southern Lights. Same as the Northern Lights but south. They will experience the same flares. It is the magnetic poles that attracts the bursts and shows the lights.
Aurora Australis
Thanks for all the fish...dont panic and pack your towel!
Official press release from the White House: "It's Bush's fault."
Um... does anyone else immediately think of the Borg from Star Trek when they see that color?
Actually................Yes I do. (sigh) I'm such a geek