A strong solar flare blasting its way to Earth caused a brilliant display of Northern Lights in central St. Louis County around 11 p.m. Thursday.
It has been several years since Earth has had a solar storm of this size, coming from sunspots smack in the middle of the sun, said Tom Berger, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.
The worst effects will miss the Earth, meaning that while power grids might see some fluctuations because of changes in the Earth's magnetic field, it won't knock power systems completely off line, Berger said. However, it might cause slight disturbances in satellites and radio transmissions.
"We're not scared of this one," Berger said.
If you missed Thursday night's show in the sky, you'll have another chance Friday night, when the Northern Lights are expected to be even stronger.
For more technical information: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
