Canadians and others across the globe were treated to an aurora borealis display Friday night due to a severe geomagnetic storm.
The northern lights were visible across Canada and may be visible again Saturday night. Green, pink, yellow and blue vistas were photographed throughout the night on May 10 and 11.
The geomagnetic storm is the most severe the Earth has seen in the last 20 years. A notice of it was issued on Thursday after space weather forecasters observed “several moderate to strong” solar flares exploding off the Sun, produced by a massive cluster of sunspots that was about 16 times the diameter of the Earth.
The geomagnetic storm could disrupt some infrastructure, with satellite internet provider Starlink warning of “degraded service” on Saturday. Its owner, Elon Musk, said Saturday that the satellites were under a lot of pressure but were holding up so far.
“The biggest thing and most visible manifestation of space weather is the aurora,” said the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) space forecaster Robert Steenburgh in a Friday news conference.
“If you happen to be in an area where it’s dark and cloud-free and relatively unpolluted by light, you may get to see a fairly impressive aurora display. And that’s really the gift of space weather.”
— with files from Global News’ Kathryn Mannie.
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