Take a look up in the sky Saturday night, and if you're far enough north, you might catch a glimpse of the magnificent aurora borealis. The northern lights sky show will be more intense tonight because the sun released a large solar flare on Thursday and Friday, and it's just starting to affect Earth on Saturday morning.
This is a big solar flare, classified by astronomers as "extreme," but according to spaceweather.com, it's barely into that extreme range. Just a few ticks less intense, and it would be ranked in the innocuous "M" (moderate) range.
Nevertheless, this latest solar flare still might be powerful enough for you to see those lovely northern lights tonight, even from latitudes as far south as New York. Will anything else be affected? No, you don't have to worry about electronics being destroyed, even if you own an Earth-orbiting satellite.
Here's spaceweather.com's animated GIF of the solar flare, erupting on Friday:
Thumbnail graphic courtesy NASA
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