Solar Flares May Bring Stunning Auroras For The Rest Of The Week

The sun unleashed big solar flares earlier this week, and that was followed by two more yesterday morning. The first, which happened at 6:15AM for those in the Eastern time zone, was classified as a mid-level flare, while the second, which happened around 10:30AM, was a stronger X-class flare. Though the solar activity came with the annoying side effect of disrupted GPS, it could also cause incredible auroras throughout the rest of the week.

It has been a fun month for those who enjoy watching the nighttime sky. Yesterday and early this morning brought the full moon known as the Corn Moon, which took place a bit earlier than the Harvest Moon that typically happens in September. As we explained yesterday, the Harvest Moon will take place in early October this year, and the Hunter's Moon designation won't be used at all in 2017.

Joining that are these solar flares, the result of high activity on the sun; these flashes of radiation send energy hurtling toward our own planet. A coronal mass ejection was also detected by NASA's Solar Heliosphere Observatory, which may end up hitting Earth, joining the one that was produced this past Monday.

The result was stunning auroras visible in a large part of the northern world, in some cases as far south in North America as Ohio and Indiana. If you missed witnessing those, don't stress — the solar activity has slated the next few days for aurora activity, which could run from today through Saturday. There could also be further radio and GPS disruption this week.

SOURCE: Space.com