Space Weather News :IMPACT!

"A coronal mass ejection (CME) swept past Earth today, Oct. 30th, at approximately 1700 UT. Conditions are favorable for a strong geomagnetic storm as a result of the impact. The CME was hurled toward our planet yesterday by an X10-class explosion from giant sunspot 486. Sky watchers should remain alert for auroras".

The auroras on this page (29-10) and 30-10 were triggered by a pair of coronal mass ejections hitting Earth on Oct. 29th and 30th. The CMEs were hurled into space by two of the most powerful solar explosions in years--X17 and X11-class eruptions from giant sunspot 486.

After a series of major X flares (large explosions) and Coronal Mass Ejections on the sun spectaculair aurora displays were seen on 29 and 30 october 2003. On 30 october just before a front I had a clear period of three hours. During this period I did see and photograph (very) bright aurora! During a short period of five minutes the aurora light up the landscape brighter than the full moon! And also because large parts of the sky were filled with bright aurora (75%) there was an absence of shadows on the ground. Really a thrilling experience and leaving me really flabbergasted!