Skygazers in North America may see more northern lights over the weekend after the sun released a powerful “cannibal” solar storm earlier this week.
People in Canada, Alaska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas witnessed northern lights after powerful back-to-back blasts of radiation from the sun combined on their way to earth and transformed into a single large “cannibal” solar storm that struck the Earth on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Skygazers who missed that spectacle may have another chance to see the dazzling lights as another solar blast is likely to hit the Earth on Saturday, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Solar activity has increased of late and may remain so for the rest of this year.
Scientists say the sun is currently going through the high activity period of its 11-year cycle known as the Solar Maximum.
At Solar Maximum, a series of complex sunspots appear on the sun and cause frequent eruptions of material from its surface known as Coronal Mass Ejections, or CMEs.