Chicago’s night sky was painted with brilliant shades of green, pink, and purple as the northern lights made a rare appearance.
The sun’s 11-year solar cycle has officially reached its “maximum phase,” according to a press release from multiple federal agencies.
NASA, along with the NOAA and other agencies, made the announcement that the sun has roughly reached the halfway mark of its solar cycle, meaning there will be increased solar activity that could last up to a year or more.
According to a press release, the solar cycle occurs as the sun alternates between low and high levels of magnetic activity. During the height of that cycle, roughly at its halfway mark known as “maximum phase,” the sun’s magnetic poles flip, causing it to enter an “active and stormy state,” according to NASA officials.
All manner of solar activity increase during those time periods, specifically sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or CME’s.
Those CME’s can arrive at Earth in massive waves, and when they interact with the planet’s ionosphere, they create the light show known as the Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights. The stronger the CME, the brighter the Northern Lights can be, becoming visible across wide swaths of the continental United States.
On multiple occasions so far in 2024, massive geomagnetic storms have made the Northern Lights visible to the naked eye for residents in the Chicago area, including earlier this month, when a G4 geomagnetic storm slammed into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Earlier this year, a storm was strong enough to make the display visible in areas of Alabama and California, a rare occurrence according to experts.
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In addition to the light show that CME’s can produce, increased solar activity can also have significant impacts in key areas. Currents in the ionosphere can create heat energy, which can cause drag on satellites in low-earth orbit, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center. They can also impact radio signals, and can create problems with Global Positioning Systems.
The solar particles can also cause issues with power grids and pipeline systems due to a phenomenon called “geomagnetic induced currents,” according to the SWPC.
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According to officials, solar activity will still fluctuate during the maximum phase, but the phase could last for a year or more, giving plenty more opportunities for impacts on Earth.
