Solar Storms

Earth is, right now, on the receiving end of the energy from a massive X-class solar flare, meaning that enough energy has reached Earth to potentially disrupt e-communication and, even more importantly, to create aurora borealis right here in the continental U.S. Or, at least in the northern regions.

I've had no luck seeing anything with my naked eyes-- I looked last night, but because it's summer and getting dark quite late and because my home is surrounded by tall trees, I had no luck. But I happened to be online with my Cornell Heron Cam group (from northern New York state) when we realized we were picking up aurora activity on Cam #2. It wasn't much-- just a sort of upwelling/oscillating brightness every couple of minutes-- and it was pixellated and in black-and-white. But it was still cool to watch.

It was also a fine start, I might add, to Mercury retrograde, which began yesterday and will cause disruptions of its own. Be careful out there....