Sun fires off X-class solar flare, raises aurora borealis viewing chances THIS weekend

Northern lights can be seen in Elko, because of a geomagnetic storm
An undated image of Aurora lights. — Unsplash
An undated image of Aurora lights. — Unsplash

A solar activity’s parade has progressed to flow from the sun from September 12, 2024(Thursday) increasing the chances for the appearance of aurora borealis across the United States from September 14-15.

The region that has not been counted yet recently appeared called blasting off an X1.3 class solar flare on Thursday. X-class solar flares are said to be the robust kind of flares, which are later on followed by a complete or partial loss of high frequency (HF) radio signals for sunlit locations on Earth. 

The energy burst reached the new peak at 5:43am EDT, which affected communication bands to different continents including Africa, Europe, and specific parts of Asia. 

Northern lights aurora forecast UK

A few forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Space Weather Prediction Centre will progress monitoring the data to confirm the total number of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) would reach Earth's magnetic field both from the X-class flare alongside the group of M-class flares, were developed by two older sunspots, and Active Regions (AR), designated AR 3811 and AR 3814.

Read more: Aurora season 2024/25 — What to expect from northern lights

Reports from NOAA and Space Weather Prediction Centre (SWPC) suggested that a geomagnetic storm appeared on Thrusday at 10:46am EDT at the G3 (Moderate) level, which is the third one out of five levels.

The storm occurred from CME, an eruption of the sun's plasma and magnetic field, which was dismissed from a solar flare on September 10. The sun was already up across the eastern half of the US at the time, but a spectacular view of resulting auroras in its wake was witnessed from particular areas further west. 

The northern lights can be seen in Elko, because of a geomagnetic storm. Additionally, aurora chasers will get a perfect chance with a different geomagnetic storm which is likely to occur from a CME that started its journey away from the sun on the morning of September 10.