The light from solar flare activity was reported near cities including
Palm Springs and Sacramento, Calif.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; and Albuquerque and
Carlsbad, N.M.
"It totally lit up the sky. We've had dozens and dozens of calls," said
Bill Seigelof radio station KESQ in Palm Desert, 115 miles east of Los
Angeles. ``Some people thought it was UFOs.''
Just north of Albuquerque, David MacKel was making the rounds at his
security job when he saw the lights. "It was blood red," he reported, "kind
of opaque and you could see the stars through it. It kind of got me freaked
out.''
Eddy County New Mexico Deputy Danny Gonzales described it as a purple
haze. ``It was very distinct in color,'' he said. ``I have never seen
anything like it.''
Solar Flare Eruptions Likely
By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA
.c The Associated Press
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - Intense storms raging on the sun made the night sky
shimmer red and green from Reno, Nev., as far south as Palm Springs, Calif.,
and southern New Mexico, and scientists say the storms could briefly disrupt
telecommunications as they continue through the weekend.
The biggest sunspot cluster seen in at least 10 years has developed on the
upper right quarter of the side of the sun visible from Earth, according to
satellite readings.
Thousands of Nevada residents enjoyed what astronomers called the best
display of the northern lights over the state in at least two decades.
Keith Johnson, associate director of the University of Nevada, Reno's
Fleischmann Planetarium, said he has never seen such a luminous northern
lights display so far south.
As darkness fell Friday night, the skies began to glow red and rays of
light-green-colored light began to appear, he said.
``It was sensational,'' he said. ``You could see some actual color, shape and
structure to the displays. I saw large lumps of light, rays of light and
sheets of light. I even saw some slow motion in them. The colors were obvious
but not very vivid.''
Monty Wolf watched the display from Pyramid Lake, 30 miles northeast of Reno.
He said the sky was glowing so much at midnight that it appeared like
sunrise.
``It was spectacular. The grandeur of it was so impressive,'' he said. ``The
crimson looked nice ... The shafts of light kept forming, and they swirled up
and down and shifted side to side.''
The light from the solar flares also was reported near cities including Palm
Springs and Sacramento, Calif.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; and Albuquerque and
Carlsbad, N.M.
``It has totally lit up the sky. We've had dozens and dozens of calls. People
want to know what it is,'' said Bill Seigel, a producer at radio station KESQ
in Palm Desert, 115 miles east of Los Angeles. ``Some people thought it was
UFOs.''
Just north of Albuquerque, David MacKel was making the rounds at his security
job when he saw the lights. He noted it on his report at 11:23 p.m.
``It was blood red. That's all I can say. It was kind of opaque and you could
see the stars through it,'' MacKel said. He said he had seen the Northern
Lights while in Alaska, but ``the Northern Light move, this was more gaseous.
It kind of got me freaked out.''
Eddy County, N.M., Deputy Danny Gonzales described it as a purple haze. ``It
was very distinct in color,'' he said. ``I have never seen anything like
it.''
Anthony Watts, a meteorologist in Chico, Calif., about 170 miles north of San
Francisco, said the glow from the coronal mass ejection was interesting, but
posed no threat.
``There's no danger, however there is the likelihood that we'll have radio or
television interruptions,'' Watts said.
The sunspot, which is a cooler, darker region on the sun's surface, is caused
by a concentration of temporarily distorted magnetic fields. It spawns
tremendous eruptions, or flares, into the sun's atmosphere, hurling clouds of
electrified gas toward Earth.
The solar activity can produce an aurora in the night sky, typically over
northern latitudes. The colorful, shimmering glow occurs when the energetic
particles strike the Earth's upper atmosphere.
NASA scientists said a powerful flare that erupted Thursday rated a class X,
the most potent category.
The eruptions triggered a powerful, but brief, blackout Friday on some
high-frequency radio channels and low-frequency navigational signals,
scientists said. They forecast at least a 30 percent chance of continuing
disruptions through Sunday.
In addition to radio disruptions, the charged particles can bombard
satellites and orbiting spacecraft and, in rare cases, damage industrial
equipment on the ground, including power generators and pipelines.
On the Net:
Sun-Earth Environment Information: http://www.spaceweather.com
NOAA Space Environment Center: http://www.sec.noaa.gov
