Powerful solar storm slams into earth

A powerful solar explosion slammed into Earth's magnetic field recently, ramping up the Northern Lights across parts of Canada and the United States.

The sun storm erupted Monday, sending a huge cloud of charged particles streaking into space at incredible speeds. That cloud — known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME — hit Earth's magnetic field at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, researchers said. NASA released a video of the sun eruption on Monday, before closing down for the current government shutdown.

Such storms can also cause the Northern Lights to be seen as far south as New York and Idaho. Flare-ups were indeed seen in North America as a result of the recent CME impact. The sun is in the peak year of its current 11-year activity cycle, which is known as Solar Cycle 24. The number of sunspots increases during a solar maximum, leading to more solar flares and CMEs, which erupt from these temporary dark patches on our star.

The sun has been quiet during its current cycle, and the peak has been lackluster so far as well. In fact, scientists say Solar Cycle 24's maximum is the weakest in 100 years.

You can read more about the impact here and watch the video here.