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Nonetheless, the viewing of the phenomenon in Austria was impeded by climatic conditions; ideal visibility was noted in Vorarlberg and Tyrol. The auroras are also observable on webcams (foto-webcam.eu). The solar storm commenced on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, characterized by a notable surge in radiation that was detectable centrally on the sun’s exterior around 2 a.m. Wednesday. “By employing coronagraph imagery from space telescopes, it rapidly became clear that the storm was approaching Earth at a swift pace,” elucidated Eva Weiler from the Space Weather Office of GeoSphere Austria.
“The data that can be extracted from such images, especially the storm’s path and speed, are essential preliminary parameters for models predicting the storm’s impact on our planet,” remarked Weiler. The Geosphere solar storm model anticipated the storm’s arrival time at Earth within a five-hour window, a timeframe within acceptable error margins.
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Picture gallery: Northern lights over Upper Austria
(Photo: Sandra Ornetsmüller) Image 1/34
Heightened chances of auroras
A solar storm impacted Earth on Thursday at 4:49 p.m. (Central European Summer Time), resulting in the visibility of the northern lights across Austria and various high to medium latitudes worldwide. However, the observation of these exceptionally vivid auroras, “which lingered throughout the night,” was obstructed by rain and dense clouds, with only “sporadic breaks in the clouds for short durations,” as stated by Erwin Filimon, chair of the Salzkammergut Astronomical Working Group at the Gahberg Observatory. Given the heightened solar activity, it is probable that further sightings of northern lights can occur.
The considerable mass ejections can lead to geomagnetic disturbances. The American meteorological institution NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) declared on Friday night that the ongoing disturbances have escalated to level G4. The auroras witnessed widely across Germany in May were triggered by a G5 disturbance, the highest classification available.
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