We discussed the rare occurrence of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) being visible in central parts of the United States, including Iowa and Missouri on May 10-11, 2024.  The Northern Lights were visible much farther south than usual, including central Missouri, due to a powerful G5 class geomagnetic storm caused by coronal mass ejections and solar flares from the Sun Justin, vividly recalls seeing the Aurora in Columbia, Missouri, around 20 years ago during another strong geomagnetic storm, describing it as brighter than the ones he witnessed in Fairbanks, Alaska The hosts explain how the different colors (green from nitrogen, pink from oxygen) are produced by the interaction of charged particles with gases in the Earth's atmosphere They discuss the potential impacts of such space weather events on GPS, telecommunications, and electrical grids, necessitating precautionary measures like shutting down satellites and power grids There were some agricultural impacts reported, like disrupted GPS on farm equipment during the planting season. The conversation also touches upon the hosts' humorous anecdotes and pop culture references related to the Northern Lights phenomenon. Podcast summary generated using claude.ai and perplexity.ai   CopyRetry      

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