Rare 'cannibal' solar eruption sparks severe geomagnetic storm and stunning auroras

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Northern lights above Tampere, Finland. (Image credit: Austin MacDonald)

 

 

Over the past 24 hours, our planet has been reverberating from the impact of a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) that struck Earth's magnetic field on April 15. As a result stunning auroras were visible across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

 

This wasn't just any CME, it was a rare 'cannibal' CME formed when two CMEs, launched in quick succession by a double filament eruption on the sun, merged as they traveled through space.All this was predicted by NOAA's three-day space weather outlook.

 

Initially, it was unclear whether the CMEs would arrive separately or merge, but after the dramatic geomagnetic activity and vivid aurora displays worldwide, it's now believed they combined into one stronger, cannibalized blast. The result? A dazzling global aurora spectacle lit up skies far beyond the polar regions.

 

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center had issued a G3 geomagnetic storm warning for April 16. Not only were these conditions met, but for a brief period, severe G4-level storming was reached, being the 'G5' the most extreme.

 

In Tampere, Finland, Austin MacDonald captured jaw-dropping photos of last night's aurora show during the G4 conditions.
 

"I was amazed and almost overwhelmed. Living in Finland, I see auroras pretty often, from small G1 storms to last year’s extreme G5 storm. But last night was something special." MacDonald told Space.com in an email.

MacDonald describes the activity ramping up considerably around 2345 EET (2045 UTC), at its peak, explosive, fast-moving auroras were visible overhead.

 

"It came on so fast, and it wasn’t just overhead, it was to the south, north, east, west... It felt like I was standing inside a 360-degree aurora sphere. It just made me feel incredibly small," Macdonald continued.

"I used to work in meteorology, researching severe weather, and in many ways, this felt like witnessing the atmospheric equivalent of a perfect storm. You know all the ingredients that need to come together, and when they actually do, and you're lucky enough to be in just the right spot at just the right time to experience it, it's surreal. You can’t help but feel incredibly lucky to have been there for it," MacDonald said.

 

 

Northern lights above Tampere, Finland. (Image credit: Austin MacDonald)

 

 

"It's the kind of experience that stays with you for days. You keep replaying it in your mind, catching little flashes of it every time you pause. And then there’s the spot where you stood, where you looked up and saw the sky come alive. Every time you walk past that place afterward, it hits you all over again. It anchors you. On my way to where I watched last night's aurora, I passed the spot I watched the G5 storm last May and it just all comes back to you. It's like that exact patch of earth becomes tied to something cosmic, something far bigger than you. It's like the sky left a memory there, and now it's part of your map of the world," MacDonald continued.

 

Northern lights above Tampere, Finland. (Image credit: Austin MacDonald)

 

Photographer Sryan Bruen, captured this remarkable photograph of the northern lights dancing over Ballynafagh Church, Kildare, Ireland, at 10:11 p.m. local time.

 

The photograph was taken with a Nikon D7500 @ 15mm with ISO-2000, f/4.5 and a 10-second exposure time, Bruen told Space.com in an email.
 

 

Northern lights over Ballynafagh Church, Kildare, Ireland, April 16, 2025. (Image credit: Sryan Bruen)

 

 

Though conditions are subsiding, there is still a good chance of northern lights at high latitudes tonight. According to the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, the Kp index is expected to peak at 4.33 over the next 24 hours. For the latest forecast and timing details, check out NOAA's 3-day outlook.