Look, the aurora has appeared! Early in the morning of May 11, the entry "Altay Gorgeous Aurora" appeared on the hot search.
On the evening of May 10, according to the People's Daily, under the influence of multiple coronal mass ejection (CME) processes, there may be a geomagnetic storm above moderate on May 11, and the aurora landscape may appear in the high latitudes of the mainland@Jeff.
In the early morning of May 11, @Jeff's starry sky journey posted a picture and text saying that the aurora activity was photographed in Altay: "The entire sky in the north is red, and the naked eye can clearly see that various aurora pillars are constantly changing. In addition to red, the rare green aurora and purple aurora also appeared, and SAR (Stable Aurora Red Arc) even crossed the zenith to the south! The scene is really fantastic! ”
Source: The party's social account
On social media, many netizens who are abroad have also posted that they have seen the beautiful aurora.
Source: Social media
According to @CCTV News, since May, with the emergence of large sunspots on the sun's surface one after another, the sun has continued to erupt violently, and in just one week, 10 X-class flares and more than 60 M-class flares have erupted, and the intensity and frequency of outbreaks are rare in history.
Previously, the National Space Weather Monitoring and Warning Center issued a flare reminder on the morning of May 9, saying that at 5:40 Beijing time on May 9, 2024, a strong flare (X1.0) erupted on the sun. The event occurred in the morning on the continent and had little impact on the ionosphere over the continental region. Moderate to high levels of solar activity are expected over the next three days, with the possibility of M-class or even X-class flares.
According to the space weather WeChat official account, due to the influence of multiple coronal mass ejections, geomagnetic storms above moderate may occur on May 11, and geomagnetic activity is expected to continue until the 11th or even the 12th.
Probability of geomagnetic storms on May 9-11. Source: National Space Weather Monitoring and Warning Center website
Similar to the situation of the extraordinarily geomagnetic storm that brought the Earth on March 25 this year, the coronal mass ejection process occurred in a relatively positive position relative to the Earth, and from the Earth, the eruption formed a circular surface, which is what we have mentioned in the past "total halo". The solar material ejected by such explosive activities is fast and covers a high degree of coverage relative to the Earth, which may cause relatively strong geomagnetic activity.
Solar Hα band monitoring map (Xihe satellite). Source: Space Weather WeChat public account
The National Space Science Center predicts that the geomagnetic field will produce a strong disturbance on May 11, Beijing time, and may reach the level of a geomagnetic storm.
When a geodetic storm occurs, the atmospheric density will increase, and the orbital attenuation rate of low-orbit satellites will be further aggravated. The electron density of the ionosphere will be disturbed, which will affect the quality of radio wave communication and the accuracy of navigation and positioning. At the same time, in high latitudes, the beautiful aurora phenomenon will also reappear.