THE THIRD CME HAS ARRIVED (UPDATED): The highly-anticipated 3rd CME has arrived. It struck Earth's magnetic field at approximately 1917 UTC on Nov. 12th. Our first impression of the impact: It was not strong enough to cause a repeat of last night's extreme aurora display. We are downgrading our storm forecast from category G4 (severe) to G2/G3 (moderate/strong). Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
DOUBLE CME STRIKE PRODUCES SEVERE STORM: Arriving earlier than expected, two CMEs struck Earth on Nov. 11th. The closely-spaced sequence of impacts produced a severe (G4) geomagnetic storm. Auroras spread across almost every US state with sightings as far south as Florida, California, Texas, Arizona and Alabama.
"These are possibly the brightest auroras I’ve ever seen," reports Benjamin Root, who sends this photo from Atkins, Iowa:
Root's photo raises a question: Is farm equipment going haywire? The last time there was a storm like this (May 2024), tractors acted like "they were demon possessed"-- a result of storm-related GPS errors. Farmers, if your GPS-guided equipment went off course on Nov. 11-12, let us know.
The auroras were remarkably widespread. We've just received this incredible photo from Usulutan, El Salvador:
"Auroras at 13 degrees north latitude--that has GOT to be a world record!!" exclaims photographer Rene Saade. "I was checking out a beach that had been reported to have bioluminescence (it did!) when I saw that part of the sky was bright pink. What an amazing night!"
Pictures continue to pour in from around the Americas. Browse the gallery for the latest images.
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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THE NORTHERN LIGHTS PENDANT FROM SPACE: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the Northern Lights Pendant. Here it is, hitching a ride to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon:
You can have it for $129.95. Featuring tall Norwegian Spruce trees silhouetted by blue-green auroras, the pendant makes an otherworldly birthday or anniversary gift.
The students are selling space pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the ornament in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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