--- title: "Remember When the Sun Shot a Ball of Plasma at the Earth? It Hit and Caused a Beautiful Aurora" description: "Turns out that when the Sun spits plasma at the Earth, it's actually pretty awesome." date: "2022-04-20" modified: "2022-04-20" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/plasma-earth-aurora" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "aurora borealis" - "CME" - "sunspots" - "the digest" --- # Remember When the Sun Shot a Ball of Plasma at the Earth? It Hit and Caused a Beautiful Aurora ![Turns out that when the Sun spits plasma at the Earth, it's actually pretty awesome.]() *\Image: IRENE STACHON/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images\* ## The Chronic Turns out that when the Sun spits plasma at the Earth, the results can be beautiful. Earlier this month, when a [sunspot shot plasma at Earth for the second time]() in two weeks, astronomers knew it was likely to result in a stunning aurora borealis light show here on Earth — and boy were they right. Multiple photos, like those [taken by "Aurora Hunter" Todd Salat](), show the majestic northern lights that [this "corpse" plasma ball]() caused on Earth. https://twitter.com/spacesnapshot/status/1513882342544515077 ## Mass Ejection Apart from being visually stunning, these recent northern lights have a fascinating backstory as well. Both last week's auroras and those that occurred [at the very end of March](), which were [seen much further south than usual](), were the result of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are when events on the Sun's surface cause the star to eject plasma and magnetic radiation into its solar winds. When those magnetized winds reach Earth and react with our magnetosphere, they result in the aurora borealis. ## Hardcore Both of the last two CMEs had gnarly-sounding monikers associated with them — "corpse" for the last one, due to it coming from a "dead" sunspot, and "cannibal" for the one prior because it overtook and "ate" the smaller initial ejection. In spite of the intensity of their names, however, these solar events generally don't wreak too much havoc on Earth, save for some disruptions in [low-frequency radio waves]() and, of course, the gorgeous atmospheric lightshows they can cause. There seems to be a lag of a few days between initial CMEs and them hitting Earth's magnetosphere, so next time the sun decides to shoot plasma out at Earth, we'll have some time to prepare to look for the spectacle. **More on sun freakouts:** *[A Huge "Canyon of Fire" Just Opened Up On The Sun]()* **More upcoming solar events:** [The first solar eclipse of 2022 is coming on April 30]() \[*Space.com*\] ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()