The “moderate” storm is the result of sunspots.
NOAA reported that a “moderate” solar storm struck Earth over the weekend, and another once could hit today.
On Sunday, Earth’s magnetic field was pelted by a solar wind stream reaching velocities of more than 600 kilometers (372 miles) per second.
While that’s nothing too alarming – solar storms often pummel our planet triggering spectacular auroras – what is weird is that this storm was totally unexpected.
“This event was not in the forecast, so the resulting auroras came as a surprise,” SpaceWeather reported.