Americans Treated to Historic 'Light Show' in the Heavenlies, God's Handiwork on Display

Billy Hallowell : May 13, 2024
CBN News

"Basically what happens is part of the sun actually lifts off the surface. So, this plasma, the charged particles, the magnetic field that makes up the sun part of it actually lifts off the sun and streams away into space." -Ian Cohen at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

BCN Editor's Note: King David writes in the first verse of Psalm 19: "The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork..." It perfectly describes the beautiful celestial display many of us saw this past weekend. Thank You Jesus! -Aimee Herd, Breaking Christian News

[CBN News] It was a celestial show in the heavens that many Americans thought they would never witness firsthand. (Screengrab image: via CBN News)

Millions across the country were treated to a green and purple glow in the sky this past weekend as far south as Texas in the US, as well as Chile, northern China, England, and northern Europe.

It was all thanks to a severe geomagnetic storm on the surface of the sun that produced a rare and powerful sequence of solar flares over several days.

Robert Steenburgh, a space scientist at NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center said, "The flares haven't been particularly strong, but the fact that we had a sequence, a rapid-fire of all these CME's, coronal mass ejections, aimed at Earth and arriving at Earth is what drove the geomagnetic field to such an agitated state."

Ian Cohen at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory added, "Basically what happens is part of the sun actually lifts off the surface. So, this plasma, the charged particles, the magnetic field that makes up the sun part of it actually lifts off the sun and streams away into space."

The light show also caused some minor problems with the power grid, high-frequency communications, and some GPS systems, causing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue a rare geomagnetic storm warning. (Image credit: Julie Smith)

Elon Musk said Saturday his Starlink satellite internet service was "under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far."

An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003 took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.

Steenburgh said that's because the power grid, GPS, and some communications systems are "not built to use this current, so it becomes a problem." 

But this time around, the solar event was about enjoying the wonder of God's handiwork, the northern lights, seen by many for the first time. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Dale Hurd: Since joining CBN News, Dale has reported extensively from Western Europe, as well as China, Russia, and Central and South America.