Sun's Coronal Mass Ejection hits Earth's Magnetic Field

According to SpaceWeather.com "A CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Oct. 24th at approximately 1800 UT (02:00 pm EDT). According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the impact caused a strong compression of Earth's magnetic field, allowing solar wind to penetrate all the way down to geosynchronous orbit for a brief period between 19:06 UT and 19:11 UT. Earth-orbiting spacecraft could have been directly exposed to solar wind plasma during that time."

The impact also sparked a geomagnetic storm which will last the next three days sparking lots of auroras...

Auroras... "These are the strongest and most beautiful auroras I've ever seen," says Øye, a veteran observer of Northern Lights. "I can only imagine what the display must have been further north."

High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras as Earth's magnetic field continues to reverberate from the CME impact. The best time to look is usually during the hours around local midnight.

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