Powerful Magnetic Storm Produces Beautiful Aurora Around the World

By Nancy Atkinson - March 18, 2015 at 5:40 PM UTC | Planetary Science
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The strong geomagetic storm surprised early risers yesterday on

St. Patrick's Day with a spectacular display of the northern lights

, ended up with staying power. According to

Spaceweather.com

, a fast-moving CME hit Earth's magnetic field that at first had little effect. But as Earth moved into the CME's strongly-magnetized wake, the storm intensified until it became a G4-class event. "For more than 9 hours, it was the strongest geomagnetic storm of the current solar cycle," and the glow of aurora was seen around the world -- in the northern hemisphere, anyway -- farther south than usual, such as in Kanasa and Virginia in the US and in Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Hampshire in the UK.

Speaking of 'around the world,' astronaut

Terry Virts

took the Vine video above, from the International Space Station.

Below are more aurora images from Universe Today readers:

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Powerful Aurora Borealis from March 18, 2015.Photographed in Saaremaa, Estonia. Credit and copyright: Marko Palm. [/caption]

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Aurora on St. Patrick's Day night, seen west of Keene, Ontario, Canada at about 10:00 p.m. EDST. Credit and copyright: Rick Stankiewicz [/caption]

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Aurora borealis as seen from Leek in Staffordshire, England on March 17, 2015. Credit and copyright: Gareth Harding.

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90 Minute Aurora Star Trails as seen from the UK on March 17, 2015. Credit and copyright: Mary Spicer. [/caption]

The team from the

Slooh telescope

had a special broadcast last night from Iceland to showcase the aurora, and the skies were alive with brilliant, green aurora. Here is a highlight, showcasing some of the incredible moments:

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com