Cannibal solar storms hit Earth; auroras spotted around the world

The European Space Agency (ESA) said Thursday that August 14 and 15 were explosive days at the Sun as cannibal coronal mass ejections (CMEs) - large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona - erupted from its surface, headed straight for Earth.

The sun erupted two coronal mass ejections. According to the agency, one of the two CMEs cannibalised the other on the way to Earth. Estimated to be travelling at pretty average speeds (mean speed of a CME is ~400 km/s), the second caught up with the first and they merged into each other.

"While merging coronal mass ejections aren't very common, neither were they particularly strong and their impact on the ground hasn't been dramatic," the ESA Operations team tweeted.

Cannibal #solarstorms strike Earth! What’s going on here then?14 and 15 Aug were explosive days at the Sun as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma – erupted from its surface, headed straight for Earth 🌞🫣🌍📷CME from Jan 2012 pic.twitter.com/WR5dNSngwB

— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) August 18, 2022

Two CME’s in particular hit the headlines, with one "cannibalising" the other. Estimated to be travelling at pretty average speeds (mean speed of a CME is ~400 km/s!), the second caught up with the first and they combined early yesterday morn🌞🌬️🌬️📷The 1st, unknowing CME pic.twitter.com/OI6il5gdBm

— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) August 18, 2022

CMEs directed toward Earth can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm which occurs when they funnel energy into Earth's magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. Magnetic storms can degrade communication signals, cause unexpected electrical surges in power grids and also cause aurora.

As expected, geomagnetic storms were detected between 15:00-00:00 UTC on August 17 and auroras were also spotted around the world.