Major Flare Could Spark Severe Geomagnetic Storm Sunday Night, June 1st

By: Bob King June 1, 2025

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Aurora reflections

Coronal mass ejections and coronal holes — high-speed streams of charged particles from openings in the solar corona — are often responsible for instigating the aurora. The latter caused this northern lights display on May 28th, visible from Duluth, Minnesota. A more intensive storm is expected Sunday night.

Bob King

Get ready for a light show! A sunspot group that refused to die lit a fuse that's expected to ignite bright auroras across the U.S. on Sunday night, June 1st. Region 4100 — which first arose in early April and is now making a third go-round of the Sun — produced a strong M8.2-class solar flare that launched a billion-ton cloud of charged particles directly at Earth late on May 30th. Instead of simply blowing by, the coronal mass ejection (CME) coupled with our planet's magnetic field, which released a salvo of electrons and protons into the upper atmosphere Sunday morning, June 1st. From the Upper Midwest the aurora overtopped the zenith! It was even seen in New Mexico.

More:
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/major-flare-could-spark-severe-geomagnetic-storm-sunday-night-june-1st/