Aurora over Maine
Image Credit & Copyright:
Jeremy P. Gray
It has been a good week for auroras.
Earlier this month active sunspot
region 2158 rotated into view and unleashed a series of
flares and plasma ejections into the Solar System during its journey across the Sun's disk.
In particular, a pair of
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)
impacted
the Earth's
magnetosphere
toward the end of last week, creating the most intense
geomagnetic storm so far this year.
Although power outages were feared by some, the most dramatic effects of these
impacting plasma clouds were auroras seen as far south as
Wisconsin, USA.
In the featured image taken last Friday night, rays and sheets of multicolored auroras were captured over
Acadia National Park, in
Maine,
USA.
Since another CME plasma cloud is currently approaching the Earth, tonight offers another good chance to see an impressive auroral display.