The key facts
- Auroras over Russia rated 10 out of 10 — the highest intensity category
- The magnetic storm began on the night of October 30 to 31; a G1–G2 level and a duration of 12–15 hours had been forecast
- On October 29, a prominence about 500 thousand km long was recorded on the Sun, which, according to scientists, flew more to the side than toward Earth
Highest-category auroras observed over Russia
On the evening of October 31, the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported that auroras of the highest intensity category were being observed over Russian territory: specialists rated them 10 out of a possible 10. The phenomenon accompanies a magnetic storm that began on Earth on Saturday evening — as reported by Life.ru. Gazeta.Ru noted that the laboratory (together with the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the RAS) published the announcement on its Telegram channel.
What had been predicted in advance
The storm was expected: earlier, the laboratory had reported that a weak to moderate magnetic storm (G1–G2) would begin on Earth on the night of October 30 to 31, lasting about 12–15 hours. In the preceding days, the geomagnetic situation had remained unsettled, but the readings did not even reach the threshold of noticeable disturbances — that is, the actual onset of the storm coincided with the calculated timing, while the observed auroras turned out to be noticeably stronger than the weak level of disturbance that had been forecast.
A prominence that flew past Earth
The backdrop for these events was an eruption on the Sun: on October 29, several space telescopes recorded a large prominence about 500 thousand kilometers long. According to scientists quoted by Gazeta.Ru, in this case the prominence flew more to the side than toward Earth, and of the nearby planets, only Mars appears likely to be in its path. The sources do not assert a direct link between this eruption and the October 31 storm; earlier, on October 9, it was reported that Russians had been warned of two magnetic storms in a row.
