Waiting for an Aurora Valentine

3 CMEs are headed for Earth with the first impact expected late on Feb. 14, 2014 for some Valentine’s day and weekend aurora!

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We hope to see more of this on Feb. 14. Aurora photo taken by Kristin Berg on February 7, 2014 in Kvænangen, Troms, Norway. Shared by spaceweather.com

Space weather forecasters are waiting to see what is in store for this weekend. Three separate CMEs heading towards Earth are each relatively minor but together they are expected to bring geomagnetic activity to us starting late Feb. 14, 2014. All three CMEs left the Sun separately at low to moderate speeds. The first CME at ~488 km/s is associated with the M1.7 flare which peaked at 02/11/2014, 3:31 UT from active region 11974. The second CME ~490 km/s is associated with a filament eruption just west of active region 11973. The third CME ~755 km/s is associated with the M3.7 flare which peaked at 02/12/2014, 4:25 UT from active region 11974.

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A computer model showing the 3 CMEs that should impact Earth starting Feb. 14, 2014. credit: NASA SWRC

G1 (minor) geomagnetic storms are forecast to begin on February 14, and G2 (moderate) storms are forecast for February 15 possibly producing fantastic auroras farther south than usual.

credit: Kristen Berg/spaceweather.com/NASA SWRC/NOAA SWPC