Are the aurora borealis coming in Auckland? An extremely intense solar flare fired from the Sun

The flare, one of the largest events recorded in modern times, appeared to be directed toward Earth at the moment of its release.

Especially when such flares are accompanied by coronal mass ejections, they can release massive clouds of charged particles, or plasma, that travel through space and interact with Earth’s magnetic field.

This activity can lead to geomagnetic storms, which in turn can produce the dazzling auroras visible in our night sky.

The May event was the largest solar storm observed in over a decade, reaching the highest status of “G5” on the scale.

While the Earth’s magnetic field protects us from particles produced by such storms, they have been known to cause problems in power grids by sending additional electricity to transmission lines – as was the case with a transformer failure in Dunedin in 2001.

But solar storms can also be a delight for stargazers and photographers, and astrophotographer and Otago Museum director Dr Ian Griffin said we could soon expect to hear whether this flare caused one.

“It’s a really big solar flare, which means there’s a good chance of an aurora borealis in a few days – we’ll probably know more in a day or so once satellites start detecting it,” Griffin said.

“It’s exciting that we’re in the new moon phase – so the aurora borealis could be quite pretty because we’ll be seeing it against a dark sky.

“We’re also at a great time of year when our magnetic field and the sun’s magnetic field are coupled and that’s when we tend to get better aurorae.

“So if you’re in Auckland, there may even be a chance you’ll see it just like you see the bright aurora borealis in May.”

The flare comes as a team of Kiwi scientists is working with the energy sector on a $15 million project to prepare for a much bigger event than May’s – the so-called “solar tsunami”.

The most powerful solar tsunami in recent memory – the ‘Carrington event’ of 1859 – could cause widespread damage to gas and electricity networks and railway signaling if it happened today.

Another solar storm in 2012 was of similar strength but passed Earth’s orbit without hitting it.

Jamie Morton is a specialist in science and environmental reporting. Joined Herald in 2011 and writes about everything from environmental protection and climate change to natural hazards and new technologies.

Register H’s Journala free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.