Solar storm with speed of 4 million km/h makes landfall on Earth

NASA satellite captured the moment when a solar storm broke out, making the aurora on Earth even more brilliant in time for Halloween.

(Video: NASA)

Video from NASA's Solar Dynamics Orbiter satellite reveals a solar flare that takes place from August 25 to 28, culminating in a massive X1 storm that could intensify Earth's auroras over Halloween.

Solar storms come in many different forms, including solar flares and auroras . Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation that emit photon waves towards the Earth. The power of the solar flare has 3 levels: C-class, M-class and X-class, in which X-class is the strongest. The CME consists of clouds of plasma and magnetic fields that shoot out from the surface of the Sun, carrying many molecular particles. Solar flare and CME have the same origin, resulting from a disruption of the magnetic field in the outer atmosphere of the Sun.

Image of a solar storm observed from the Solar Dynamics Orbiter satellite.

The video begins with a series of eruptions on October 25 from the highly active region on the left side of the Sun, accompanied by some small flares. Hurricane X1 erupted on October 28 from a sunspot below the center of the Sun, pointing directly towards Earth.

"Solar glare is an intense burst of radiation. Toxic radiation from the flare cannot travel through Earth's atmosphere and affect humans on the ground, but is powerful enough to disrupt GPS and communications signals. " , said NASA.

The Solar Dynamics Orbiter is among a series of different spacecraft that regularly monitor the weather of the Sun. The flash on October 28 was accompanied by CME, which ejected charged particles at 4 million km/h. Those particles reach Earth over the weekend and can make the aurora more powerful.

Auroras on Earth occur when charged particles from the Sun interact with the upper atmosphere, creating a magical glow. Earth's magnetic field guides charged particles towards the poles, so the aurora often occurs at high latitudes in the north. But the charged particle from the solar storm on May 28 provides an opportunity for people in areas such as New York, Idaho, Illinois, Oregon, Maryland and Nevada to observe the phenomenon.