REGION – On Friday night, residents across the region turned their eyes to the sky to watch the aurora.
On May 9, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Geomagnetic Storm Warning for Friday.
“This is an unusual and potentially historic event,” said Director Clinton Wallace in a press release.
NOAA’s space weather forecasters saw at least seven coronal mass ejections from the sun with the first reaching Earth at around 12:37 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The impacts are expected to persist through Sunday.
According to the NOAA, a coronal mass ejection is an explosion of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona that can cause geomagnetic storms when they are directed at Earth. The storms can also trigger displays of aurora.
In Shrewsbury, resident Emily Hayes captured these photos of the aurora.
Disclaimer: Emily Hayes is managing editor Laura Hayes’ sister.
