You’d never know it from Chicago’s gray skies, but the Sun put on a spectacular show Wednesday, emitting a “significant solar flare,” according to NASA.
Now scientists are bracing to see what the resulting space weather will have in store for Earth.
The Sun’s actually been acting up all week, with previous, more moderate flares already raising expectations of a geomagnetic storm
that could deliver views of aurora (aka, Northern Lights) in parts of the U.S. where the phenomenon isn’t typically seen.
The Chicago region is on the southernmost latitude of where the aurora might be visible, but in classic Chicago fashion, the light pollution puts the possibility at nil.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the event on Wednesday, which peaked shortly after noon, Central time.