Stephen Blue of Deltaville captured this image of the Northern Lights on Nov. 12 from Norview Marina looking north out of Broad Creek towards the Rappahannock River. The bright white glowing lights on the horizon in the distance are Kilmarnock (on the left) and the one to the right is Reedville. Blue speculated that the faint orange glow is probably clouds over southern Maryland. (Photo by Stephen Blue)
The sun is nearing the peak of its 11-year cycle of solar storms, according to scientists.
When it peaks, the sun’s magnetic field reverses — the north pole becomes the south pole, and the south pole becomes the north pole.
As the poles reverse solar storms increase and the sun ejects more charged particles. “Coronal mass ejections” spew billions of tons of matter traveling at 1 million miles per hour.
