It was an ordinary day. Looking at a photograph captured at NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory this past Friday. It is a colorized ultraviolet image of a solar flare which is the bright flash toward the middle of the picture. Seems that an unusually strong solar storm that is hitting Earth could produce northern lights in the U.S.A. this weekend and potentially disrupt power and communications. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "For most people here on Earth, they won't have to do anything." said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the U.S. as Alabama and Northern California, according to NOAA. But, it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues. "That's really the gift from space weather - the aurora," said Steenburgh. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye. Snap a picture of the sky and "there might be actually a nice little treat there for you," said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center. The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in Central America. Well, I have my 35mm Nikon with my zoom lens ready for the weekend. I'll try and catch a few photographs if possible and put them in another story. Can't promise anything will happen, but sometime along the way something is going to happen and I'll get a few good photos. I promise! Hey, I never did get to see the North America Eclipse...and I even bought a pair of special glasses to watch it. What a disappointment that was for me. Will I be disappointed once again? Im getting too old to be disappointed too many times without seeing something along the way!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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| NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this colorized ultraviolet image of a solar flare this past Friday. |
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