--- title: "Severe Solar Storm Creates Stunning Auroras During Meteor Shower" description: "A power geomagnetic storm that hit Earth on Monday created beautiful auroras that lit up the night sky during the Perseids meteor shower." date: "2024-08-15" modified: "2024-08-15" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/solar-storm-auroras-meteor-shower" categories: - "Energy" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" - "Solar Power" tags: - "aurora" - "aurora borealis" - "solar storms" - "the digest" --- # Severe Solar Storm Creates Stunning Auroras During Meteor Shower ![A power geomagnetic storm that hit Earth on Monday created beautiful auroras that lit up the night sky during the Perseids meteor shower.]() *\Image: Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu via Getty\* ## Bad Turns Good Looks like the Sun is having another [one of its outbursts]() again, because it just blasted us with a severe geomagnetic storm that crackled through our planet's magnetic field. The Space Weather Prediction Center [said]() it detected the solar event on Monday morning when it was classified as a severe G4 level storm — the second most intense kind. By that same afternoon, the event eventually weakened to a G2-level storm — but not before zapping our skies with absolutely stunning auroras. Now, observers the world over — not to mention [off-world]() — are sharing the magical glimpses they got of these incredible light displays, which just so happened to coincide with [the year's best meteor shower](). https://twitter.com/NASASun/status/1823024755269599369 ## Fun in the Sun Geomagnetic storms are caused by [coronal mass ejections](), which is when the Sun expels enormous blobs of solar material into space. Occasionally, some of these ejections hit our planet, and their payload of charged particles can wreak havoc on the Earth's magnetic field. If intense enough, the effects of the ensuing solar storm can be serious, such as disrupting communications infrastructure and [causing power blackouts](). Most of the time, though, they go unnoticed. But if we're lucky, they create the marvelous curtains of light dancing across the night sky known as the northern lights, or auroras. ## Cosmic Coincidence This year, the stars aligned — well, strictly speaking, just the Sun did — and hurled a coronal mass ejection at Earth right as the [Perseids meteor shower]() hit its peak, when it can deliver up to a hundred shooting stars in an hour. It's not every day you get to see a dazzling aurora be the backdrop to a barrage of luminescent meteors, and skywatchers the world over marveled at the rare event's beauty. "Aurora over the Grand Canyon, during the peak of the Perseids, with lightning flashes on the horizon. Does it get any better?" [one photographer tweeted](), sharing a photo of the spectacle. We've even gotten [a view of this from space](), shared by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick aboard the International Space Station. This sky display will be hard to top — but keep your eyes peeled for storms like these in the future, because a lot of the time, auroras follow. **More on solar phenomena:** *[NASA Investigating Mysterious Radio Signals From the Sun]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()