'Bird Wing' Solar Eruption Headed Toward Earth
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A massive solar filament over 600,000 miles long erupted from the sun's northern hemisphere earlier this week, in a dramatic event dubbed a 'bird wing' eruption by scientists.
Why It Matters
This filament, more than twice the distance between Earth and the moon, was captured by satellites peeling away from the sun in "wings" 75 times larger than Earth.
Specialists indicated that any impact would likely increase auroral activity and could trigger a minor geomagnetic storm.
An image of a solar prominence, also know as a solar filament.
An image of a solar prominence, also know as a solar filament.What To Know
The eruption occurred late on Monday into Tuesday, according to Space.com.
Most solar material was headed away from Earth, but scientists expressed concerns about a glancing blow, according to the Daily Mail. If this happens, the most likely results would be enhanced auroral displays, particularly at high latitudes and a minor geomagnetic disturbance.
According to NASA, a solar filament is a vast, luminous structure that projects outward from the Sun's surface. These features are rooted in the photosphere and stretch outward into the Sun's hot outer atmosphere, known as the corona. Prominences typically take about a day to form, and those that remain stable can endure in the corona for several months, arching hundreds of thousands of miles into space.
Jake Foster, astronomer at the U.K.'s Royal Observatory Greenwich, told the Mail that eruptions of this type can cause geomagnetic storms, potentially blocking out radio communications and disrupting satellite navigation in some areas.
Sarah Matthews, a professor of solar physics with the University College London's Mullard Space Science Lab told Newsweek that some effects from the eruption would be possible on Friday.
Matthews said that while most of the event was directed northward, the lower flank did make its way into the Earth-Sun line.
"Based on the current forecasts, it looks like at most a minor geomagnetic storm, with an increased chance of high latitude aurora, but probably not making it mid latitudes."
The Earth-facing side of our Sun has been taking a bit of a nap recently, but finally did something noteworthy! Check out this gorgeous "bird wing" filament eruption today. Thus far, it looks like it will mostly miss us, but we could get the wake of the structure passing by Earth… pic.twitter.com/Eppnw2jmuB — Dr. Tamitha Skov (@TamithaSkov) May 13, 2025
What People Are Saying
Krista Hammond, a space weather expert at the U.K.'s Met Office told Newsweek: "On Tuesday we observed an eruption of plasma from the Sun which a very common event at this point in the solar cycle. Because of where this left the Sun, the vast majority of the material will miss Earth. This means that even if we do receive a glancing blow from the eruption, it will be weak—a minor geomagnetic storm at most—which will not have any significant impacts."
Space weather physicist Tamitha Skov said on X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday: "The Earth-facing side of our Sun has been taking a bit of a nap recently, but finally did something noteworthy! Check out this gorgeous "bird wing" filament eruption today. Thus far, it looks like it will mostly miss us, but we could get the wake of the structure passing by Earth sometime May 16."
What Happens Next
"We've seen some more activity from a sunspot region that recently rotated on to the front side of the disk, but because that's not yet well connected to us it's not causing too much in the way of disturbance at the moment," Matthews said.
"That may change in the coming days as it rotates further towards the West limb of the sun though."
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