Strong Solar Flare May Charge Up Northern Lights Tonight This
striking aurora image was taken during a geomagnetic storm that
was most likely caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun
on May 24, 2010. The ISS was located over the Southern Indian
Ocean. Full Story. CREDIT: ISS Crew Earth Observations/Image
Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center A powerful
solar flare, hurled into space when superhot gases erupted on
the sun yesterday (Feb, 13), might cause a display of the aurora
borealis for parts of the northern United States overnight
tonight (Feb. 14). The sun unleashed the solar flare yesterday
at about 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT) from a sunspot region that
was barely visible last week. Since then, it has grown in size
to more than 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) across — nearly
eight times the width of our Earth. The flare was categorized by
the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado as a Class
M6.6 and is the strongest solar flare observed in 2011. It could
ramp up northern l