{"id":847442,"date":"2026-06-06T01:42:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/847442\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T01:42:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:42:24","slug":"massive-cannibal-solar-storm-headed-towards-earth-could-make-northern-lights-visible-further-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/847442\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive \u2018cannibal\u2019 solar storm headed towards Earth could make Northern Lights visible further south"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rare merger of two solar eruptions is expected to spark a spectacle of Northern Lights<\/a> further south than usual, astronomers say.<\/p>\n

Dazzling auroras may be seen across much of the US and Europe<\/a> as the two solar storms \u201dcannibalise<\/a>\u201d each other, according to Nasa.<\/p>\n

On 2 June, an unstable region on the solar surface called sunspot 4455 released a massive X-class flare<\/a>. This was followed by multiple coronal mass ejections,<\/a> or CMEs, streams of charged particles travelling at about 2,000 km per second that can cause disturbances in the Earth\u2019s magnetic field<\/a> and spark radio blackouts and vibrant auroras.<\/p>\n

The X-class solar flare and the CMEs caught up in space, combining into a \u201ccannibal\u201d eruption, a model from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests.<\/p>\n

When the cannibal CME arrives on Friday, it will likely create a strong or even a severe magnetic storm around the Earth, according to the agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a fair level of confidence about an Earth arrival,\u201d the agency said. \u201cHowever, intensity is more uncertain due to complex circumstances involved with these CMEs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A powerful X-class flare erupting from sunspot 4455 (Nasa Solar Dynamics Observatory)<\/p>\n

As the charged particles interact with gases in the upper atmosphere, including oxygen and nitrogen, they will get more energised, creating dazzling aurora borealis<\/a>. Experts predict these auroras will be visible as far south as central England and Wales on Friday.<\/p>\n

In the US, they say, they may be seen in Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

This is likely not the last such eruption from anti-Hale sunspot 4455, whose magnetic polarity is contrary to what is normally observed on the Sun. One in 10 sunspots is known to exhibit such a reversed magnetic configuration, which can make these regions especially unstable and prone to powerful charged particle eruptions.<\/p>\n

The Sun has released a record number of X-class flares in recent years as it has entered the peak phase of its 11-year activity cycle since 2024.<\/p>\n

Currently, it is going through a poorly understood \u201cbattle zone\u201d phase where instabilities are thought to lead to more anti-Hale sunspots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare merger of two solar eruptions is expected to spark a spectacle of Northern Lights further south…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":847443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[78198,746,159,346435,798,183218,346434,67,132,346436,68],"class_list":["post-847442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-charged-particles","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-solar-eruptions","tag-solar-flare","tag-solar-storms","tag-solar-surface","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-unstable-region","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116700627911160111","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}