A possible geomagnetic storm is brewing and could bring beautiful Northern Lights displays to mid-latitude parts of the United States as early as tonight.
“A halo coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading for Earth,” says SpaceWeather.com. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has issued a G2 geomagnetic storm watch for July 24, saying that resulting “aurora may become visible over some northern and upper Midwest states from New York to Idaho.”
The storm resulted from a halo CME that erupted on July 21. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) watched the eruption, and as always, the resulting imagery is jaw-dropping.
“In the sped-up video, you can see two wispy black plumes of plasma launched from sunspot AR3757 on Sunday along with a M1-class solar flare,” Space explains. “These active sunspot regions can spew electromagnetic energy from the Sun’s corona at any given moment and as these plumes navigate away from the Sun’s atmosphere, they collect more and more plasma that eventually consolidate into a CME’s most inner makings.”
Per space weather physicist Dr. Tamitha Skov on X, formerly known as Twitter, the resulting solar storm should hit Earth in the early morning hours of July 24, with “G1-G2 level conditions expected” and auroral displays possible at mid-latitudes.
Direct Hit: NASA & NOAA model predictions show the #solarstorm will impact Earth July 24. The window for arrival starts early July 24. Likely the storm will be fashionably late, due to slow solar wind “traffic” & an additional glancing storm blow ahead of it. G1-G2 level… pic.twitter.com/1Ma5NTPhtD
— Dr. Tamitha Skov (@TamithaSkov) July 22, 2024
While there is no sure thing regarding auroras, the geomagnetic conditions offer reason for optimism. Provided that astrophotographers at mid-to-high latitudes have clear skies tonight, they may be able to see some colorful activity.
There’s no expectation that the storm will deliver displays like the massive storm in May, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be excellent photographic opportunities. This storm is the latest in a series of storms as the Sun is in the midst of peak solar cycle activity. The current cycle, solar cycle 25, started in 2019 and is expected to last until about 2030. The peak solar activity is expected in 2025 or 2026, but if the significant storm a couple of months ago is any indication, the Sun is well on its way to maximum activity.
Photographing the northern lights can be tricky, so interested photographers should check out PetaPixel‘s “How to Find and Photograph the Northern Lights” guide for helpful tips and tricks.
Image credits: Aurora images by Jeremy Gray. Solar storm GIF courtesy of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.