MOSCOW, March 24 The largest magnetic storm in recent years has passed in the Earth's atmosphere, auroras can be observed in St. Petersburg and Moscow, reported at the Laboratory of Solar X-Ray Astronomy of the Institute for Space Research (IKI) RAS and the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) of the Siberian Branch of the RAS.
According to the schedule presented on the website, from 16:00 Moscow time on March 23, a magnetic storm occurred with levels from G1 to G3 (from weak to strong). The peak was passed at about 2 a.m. Moscow time on March 24, 2023. The storm began to subside only by 12.00 Moscow time on March 24 and lasted almost a day.
On the website of the Laboratory called today's storm the largest in recent years.
«Auroras can be observed up to latitudes of about 45-50 degrees, that is, including at the latitudes of Moscow and St. degrees and above,» the statement on the Laboratory's website reads.
According to the international classification, storms of this level can lead to false alarms of protection systems in power supply networks and interruptions in satellite navigation.
The Laboratory clarified that the storm occurred in the absence of large solar flares and was caused by an exceptionally rare factor for events of such strength — the Earth falling into a stream of fast solar wind. Such streams are formed on the Sun in the so-called coronal holes — dark areas of the corona with open magnetic field lines, along which a powerful outflow of matter into interplanetary space occurs.