The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which issued a rare solar storm warning, said the solar outburst reached Earth at about 16:00 GMT on Friday, hours sooner than anticipated. The most powerful geomagnetic storm in recorded history, known as the Carrington Event after British astronomer Richard Carrington, occurred in September 1859. pic.twitter.com/qLsC8GbWus — NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 10, 2024‘Gift from space’Social media lit up with people posting pictures of auroras from northern Europe and Australasia. The storm could also produce northern lights as far south in the United States as Alabama and across northern California, according to the NOAA. “That’s really the gift from space weather – the aurora,” Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with the Space Weather Prediction Center, told The Associated Press news agency.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 11, 2024 14:42 UTC