Contrary to what was initially expected, Germany will probably not be able to enjoy the Northern Lights at the beginning of the week. After stronger solar flares, there was a stream of particles directed towards Earth. But it arrived on Sunday afternoon, as Carolin Liefke from the Association of Star Friends in Heppenheim, Hesse, explained on Monday. At that time it was still light and cloudy in Germany, which is why no northern lights were observed in this country. However, people in New Zealand and Australia could have seen the celestial spectacle.
It is possible that there will still be northern lights to be seen in Germany on Monday evening, but rather unlikely, said Liefke.
The private space weather service Spaceweather.com announced on Monday, a coronal mass ejection hit the Earth’s magnetic field on Sunday afternoon German time. This triggered “a severe geomagnetic storm of class G4 – the strongest geomagnetic storm since September 2017.” However, the timing was not good to see the celestial spectacle in Europe. Also on that U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center Aurora Radar It was seen that the highest probability of aurora borealis was south of Australia and New Zealand on Sunday afternoon. According to the US forecast center, the consequences of a G4 geomagnetic storm can include problems in the power grids.
Solar storms are triggered by sudden changes in the star’s magnetic field, releasing large amounts of energy. The result is a so-called coronal mass ejection. Electrically charged matter from the hot solar atmosphere – the corona – is thrown out into space at high speed.
If such a mass ejection hits the Earth’s magnetic field, it leads to auroras. However, a strong current can also disrupt or damage the sensitive electronics of satellites. Strongly fluctuating magnetic fields also influence electrical cable networks, can lead to overloading of transformers and trigger large-scale power outages.
The sun goes through a so-called sunspot cycle that lasts about eleven years, with phases of weak and strong activity. At a minimum, no spots can be seen for months, at a maximum, hundreds. The sun’s activity has been increasing steadily since December 2019 and is currently near a maximum. In recent months, northern lights have been seen over Germany again and again, and sometimes even down to the Mediterranean.