MOSCOW, May 10. The density of the plasma surrounding the Earth has increased approximately 30 times, a vast zone of auroras has been formed over the territory of Russia, within an hour they can appear in the sky above St. Petersburg and Moscow, said Sergei Bogachev, head of the Solar Astronomy Laboratory at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“The front of the first of the plasma clouds ejected by the Sun hit the Earth about an hour ago. The speed of the solar wind has almost doubled over the past hour from 400 kilometers per second to 700 kilometers per second. The density of the plasma surrounding the Earth has increased approximately 30 times. A vast zone of auroras has been formed over the territory of the Russian Federation,” the scientist said.
According to him, the lower boundary of the auroral oval is now located at latitudes of about 60 degrees (St. Petersburg is located approximately at this latitude).
“Within an hour, auroral events are possible in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The strength of the current magnetic storm is not yet clear… The peak of the storm is expected tomorrow in the middle of the day, when the main masses ejected by the Sun will reach the Earth,” added Bogachev.
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