PETER KOMKA/EPA
Northern lights shine over Salgotarjan in northern Hungary on November 12, 2025.
The event caused the northern lights that even Portugal was able to see. But don’t worry: there is no biological risk to people on Earth. It could be the “biggest solar storm to hit our planet in more than two decades”.
The European Space Agency (ESA) warned this Wednesday of the approach of a geomagnetic storm which could affect satellites, electrical networks, communication systems and GPS navigation systems.
A geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance of the Earth’s magnetosphere caused by the coronal mass ejection, a “huge cloud of magnetized plasma” expelled by the corona (the outermost layer) of the Sun.
It was the ongoing solar storm that caused the northern lights that have been seen in recent days in the night skies of several countries in the Northern Hemisphere, including Portugal — the phenomenon was ‘caught’ in Viseu and Figueira da Foz, said .
“Forecasts suggest that a second storm, fueled by the first, will potentially result in the biggest solar storm to hit our planet in more than two decades”, says the British Geological Survey in .
Nicknamed the “cannibal storm”, the first event has already affected communications and the accuracy of global positioning system (GPS) satellites, explains the Service.
According to ESA, on Tuesday a intense solar flarewith a peak at around 10:04 (Lisbon time). Less than an hour later, a coronal mass ejection was observed, with an estimated initial speed of around 1,500 km/h, which, according to ESA, could reach Earth early Thursday morning.
The estimated impact of the event is serious, but “it does not represent a direct biological risk to people on Earth”, highlighted the ESA, in .
ESA points out that “these estimates contain some uncertainty”, noting that “it is closely monitoring this powerful event” and “collecting detailed information from all its specialized service centers”.
