Strong geomagnetic storm sparks aurora all over Europe

Monday, 6 November 2023 17:22 UTC

Strong geomagnetic storm sparks aurora all over Europe

Wow! Now that was what you call an almighty storm! Two distinct coronal mass ejection arrivals yesterday sparked a geomagnetic storm that peaked at the strong G3 (Kp7) level. This sparked spectacular and vivid aurora displays which were seen from all over Europe, southern parts of Australia and New Zealand. We admit that we were actually surprised by how far south in Europe people were spotting the aurora. We have seen images from pretty much every European country and even as far south as Turkey! Yes! Turkey! Incredible stuff! This amazing aurora display is yet another example of why you need to remain vigilant during coronal mass ejection arrivals! You never know when that chance comes that you will be able to spot the aurora from your own back yard or balcony!

Down below we will share some images that we have seen from this storm but first let's quickly recap what happened. At 08:10 UTC yesterday we observed the first solar wind shock signaling the arrival of a coronal mass ejection likely launched on 2 November. The total strength (Bt) of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) reached an impressive 34nT with a maximum southward Bz component of -27nT but the solar wind speed never got much higher than 400km/s.

A second even strong shock in the solar wind was observed at 11:46 UTC and really threw everything into overdrive. The total strength of the IMF reached a rarely seen high of 45nT and gradually decreased during the remainder of the day. The Bz component started northward surprising geomagnetic activity but rotated southward to about -15 to -20nT for 4 hours during the UTC afternoon. with a solar wind speed of about 500km/s during the period. This fueled our magnetosphere with energy and vivid aurora displays erupted at many middle latitude locations all around the globe.

Header image: SpaceWeatherLive.com's webmaster Sander Vancanneyt (Belgium)

Aurora on 5 November 2023.
Mark Ferrier (Scotland)
Aurora on 5 November 2023.
Robin Fogel  (from a plane above Luleå, Sweden)
Aurora on 5 November 2023.
Дмитро Володимирович (Ukraine)
Aurora on 5 November 2023.
Markus Kneubühler (Switzerland)
Aurora on 5 November 2023.
Kees Zwaan (Netherlands)
Aurora on 5 November 2023.
İrfan Üstün / Hava Forum on Instagram (Turkey)
Aurora on 5 November 2023.
Wallackhaus (Austria)

Coronal hole faces Earth

A coronal hole was facing Earth yesterday. Expect a high speed solar wind stream to arrive at Earth late tomorrow or on 8 November.

Thank you for reading this article! Did you have any trouble with the technical terms used in this article? Our help section is the place to be where you can find in-depth articles, a FAQ and a list with common abbreviations. Still puzzled? Just post on our forum where we will help you the best we can! Never want to miss out on a space weather event or one of our news articles again? Subscribe to our mailing list, follow us on Twitter and Facebook and download the SpaceWeatherLive app for Android and iOS!

Latest news

Support SpaceWeatherLive.com!

A lot of people come to SpaceWeatherLive to follow the Sun's activity or if there is aurora to be seen, but with more traffic comes higher server costs. Consider a donation if you enjoy SpaceWeatherLive so we can keep the website online!

100%
Support SpaceWeatherLive with our merchandise
Check out our merchandise

Latest alerts

Get instant alerts!

Space weather facts

Last X-flare2024/10/31X2.0
Last M-flare2024/11/05M2.6
Last geomagnetic storm2024/10/12Kp5 (G1)
Spotless days
Last spotless day2022/06/08
Monthly mean Sunspot Number
September 2024141.4 -74.1
November 2024215.8 +74.4
Last 30 days161.1 +7.2

This day in history*

Solar flares
12013X4.93
21998X1.21
32014X1.14
42003M7.6
52004M5.72
DstG
12023-172G3
21991-92G2
31986-74G1
41959-73G1
51993-71G1
*since 1994

Social networks