SolarMAX Collection

A special collection from the great geomagnetic storm night of March 17, 2013

Every 11 years on average the sun reaches a peak period of activity called "Solar Maximum". It was the year solar maximum was expected. I took these photos at the great geomagnetic storm night of March 17, 2013 at southwest of Rovaniemi, Finland. At that night, storm was so strong that the northern lights were even visible from Colorado, USA according to spaceweather.com.

https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=17&month=03&year=2013


An article from NASA about the solar storm on March 17, 2013 :

On March 17, 2013, at 1:28 a.m. EDT, the coronal mass ejection (CME) from March 15 passed by NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) as it approached Earth. Upon interacting with the giant magnetic bubble surrounding Earth, the magnetosphere, the CME caused a kind of solar storm known as a geomagnetic storm.

On March 15, 2013, at 2:54 a.m. EDT, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space and can reach Earth one to three days later and affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground. Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and ESA/NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, show that the CME left the sun at speeds of around 900 miles per second, which is a fairly fast speed for CMEs. Historically, CMEs at this speed have caused mild to moderate effects at Earth.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News031513-cme.html


Solar storms, generated above these sunspot groups blast huge quantities of EM and particle radiation into the solar system. When headed our way, these storms can disrupt radio communications, compromise electrical power systems, damage sensitive satellite electronics, and degrade their orbits, and cause navigational equipment to make mistakes. Astronauts outside of Earth's protective atmosphere or magnetosphere can be endangered by radiation from these events. The effects of these solar storms reach throughout our entire solar system impacting planets, moons, comets and asteroids, and even the boundaries on the solar system itsself. Fortunately, our planet is protected from the harmful effects of the radiation and plasma by our atmosphere and an invisible magnetic field, our magnetosphere. We are also protected by the many spacecraft, telescopes and scientists who monitor the flow of radiation in space (space weather) in order to provide warning for those of us on Earth; a Space Weather Alert.

https://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2013/solarmax/