For the second time this year, Richmond County has been treated to a rare event: the northern lights or the aurora borealis.
The lights were visible in the sky above Richmond County earlier this year as a byproduct of a large solar storm that threatened the electrical grid and communication networks.
The northern lights are generated when high energy particles from the sun are trapped in Earth’s magnetic field and energize the gasses of the Earth’s atmosphere. These energized gasses are stripped of their electrons and form a plasma. As these molecules reunite with their electrons, they release the light that we see as the northern lights.
Usually, the lights are restricted to the north and south poles where the Earth’s magnetic field is most dense. At the poles, these lights are known as the aurora borealis for the northern lights and the aurora australis for the southern lights.
As with the northern lights seen earlier this year, we owe this most recent light show to a larger than normal solar storm.
The sun goes through various cycles and is subject to complex dynamics resulting from the immense amount of energy released from fusion. Just as hot air powers storms in the Earth's atmosphere, thermal energy in the Sun's atmosphere drives solar storms. Occasionally, the conditions are such that larger storms form, think hurricanes on the Earth. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website, the Sun experienced a G4 solar storm watch for Oct.10-11. A large eruption of charged particles known as a coronal mass ejection was observed by NOAA scientists on October 8. A G4 storm is considered a “severe” solar storm and can result in voltage control issues in power systems and auroras seen as far south as the state of Alabama. G4 storms occur approximately 100 times in a solar cycle, says the NOAA website. A solar cycle lasts 11 years and is an observed cycle where the sun’s intensity fluctuates. If you missed the recent lights, don’t fret. We are likely to see more solar activity in the coming months. During an Oct. 16 joint announcement from NASA and NOAA, the two agencies declared that the sun had in fact reached the solar maximum, the peak of solar activity for a given solar cycle. Charlie Melvin is co-publisher of the Richmond Observer and a science enthusiast.
