When the Sky Speaks in Colour: A Solar Flare, Auroras, and the Light Calling You Home

On May 14, the Sun unleashed the most powerful solar flare of the year so far — an X2.7-class event — from sunspot AR4087, an intensely active region rotating into direct alignment with Earth. Though this flare didn’t release a large coronal mass ejection, it was potent enough to disrupt radio signals on Earth and stir our atmosphere in subtle ways.

And,…