A geomagnetic storm from the Sun, one of the strongest in recent years, filled the night sky with colors. On May 10th, some of the most intense colors were recorded in many geographic latitudes and longitudes from the northern lights. It was even photographed in the Canary Islands.

This, as we’ve discussed, happens because the Sun is not stationary and has eruptions on its surface as well as sunspots (black spots) from its magnetic field. These can reach the size of Earth, or even larger, like the one from last week, and they send large amounts of particles towards Earth, creating the auroras. Sunspot AR 3664 is one of these, and it was photographed by Marco Meniero and featured in the Astronomy Picture of the Day. It was visible without magnification through a telescope (but with a filter! Never look at the Sun with the naked eye!).

Credits: Marco Meniero

The Sun rotates, and now the sunspot is on the far side, but there are chances for it to survive and for us to see those beautiful colors again in the next rotation. Solar activity follows an 11-year cycle of activity, and right now, we are at the peak of this activity!

Such eruptions have the potential to interfere with satellites and communication on Earth. That didn’t happen this time.

Some were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights dancing above their window and the roof of their house, like our reporter Katerinovi Triantafyllaki. Here you can see her photos!

For what the Northern Lights are, you can read in our older article.
here https://uni-mag.gr/what-is-northern-lights-aurora-borealis/