A 12-hour long geomagnetic storm

And it has happened as predicted in my recent article And the Sun wakes up, it has been a 12-hour long geomagnetic storm which produced aurora covering the entire northern hemisphere from Europe to North America as per Fox News update on 4th August. These northern lights were captured  by various cameramen and a slide show can be seen here.

It happens when the space plasma reaches the earth's atmosphere. Radiations cannot make it to the surface of earth except the visible light and infrared. But during Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) from the sun the charged particle travel and reach the upper atmosphere (ionosphere) of earth. These auroral particles produce the light curtains as seen on Tuesday night from different parts of the world, mentioned above.

Scientifically speaking it was not a single eruption from the sun put a series of four continuous emissions and all were earthward. The consequence was such a long geomagnetic storm. The instruments which are used to measure the magnetic field of earth (magnetometers) measure a sort of ECG plot under normal conditions but during such 'storm' since the constituent of earth's atmosphere changes the magnetometers go mad and you can see the spikes and a lot of ups and downs on the plot enhancing the usual value of magnetic field of earth by a large number.

Such storms may be hazardous for the passengers and crew taking polar flights during the storm time. NASA scientists clam that this geomagnetic storm was not a threat to International Space Station (ISS) as it is shielded to prevent the exposure to charged particle from the sun.

The Physics of such storms is undoubtedly complex but for a common person they produce magnificent colorful, spiraling and dancing curtains of light (auroras) as witnessed on Tuesday.