Jan. 23, 2012
-Discovery News- Over the weekend, the Earth’s magnetic field was struck by a coronal mass ejection (CME). The CME — a vast bubble of solar plasma that had erupted from the sun on Jan. 19 — took longer than expected to travel through interplanetary space, but on Sunday it made contact

The pressure of the magnetized bubble compressed our planet’s magnetic field (called the magnetosphere) so much that, for a brief time, satellites in geosynchronous orbit were exposed to the high radiation environment of the solar wind. Usually, the outer edge of the magnetosphere encapsulate these satellites, repelling solar plasma. But on Sunday, they became exposed as the Earth was battered by the CME.

The resulting geomagnetic storm caused a spectacular light show at higher latitudes, allowing photographers an amazing space weather photo opportunity. One of Discovery News’ favorite photographs of the weekend was taken by Bjørn Jørgensen, showing an incredible explosion of color in the sky over Grøtfjord, near the North Norway city of Tromsø (pictured above). The night before, he captured an aurora over the coastal village of Sommarøy (“Summer island”), also close to Tromsø.

As the solar plasma of the CME hit our magnetosphere, the powerful global magnetic field funneled energetic particles down toward the Polar Regions. As the particles (mainly protons) impacted our atmosphere, light erupted from the collisions. Jørgensen was there to capture this amazing view.

To see more of Bjørn Jørgensen’s outstanding work, visit his website: Arcticphoto.no

Source – Discovery News