Anyone who is passionate about the night sky knows that when the sun is particularly active and sends out a coronal mass ejection (CME) toward Earth, there is a chance that those living in the right areas of the planet will get to see an amazing light show called the Northern lights, or Aurora Borealis.

According to a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, however, these events occasionally do much more.

When the CME is of sufficient power, it can actually cause a ‘two-way highway’ to open up between the Earth and the sun.

This allows charged particles to travel in both directions (rather than just from the sun to the Earth) for a relatively short period of time.

The study looked at an event that occurred on April 24, 2023 where the particles were traveling in both directions for about two hours.

NASA talked about this study on their X account, saying:

“At one point, while surrounded by the storm, a part of Earth’s magnetic “shield” briefly dissipated. With the bow shock (momentarily) gone, the magnetic field within the solar eruption — still rooted to the Sun — fused with Earth’s magnetic field. Particles trapped by Earth’s magnetism suddenly had an escape — a direct path to the Sun!”

What is particularly interesting about these events is that they actually create the conditions needed for the Aurora Borealis on both sides.

Of course, anyone standing near the sun would not be able to see them (not only because they would be instantly incinerated) but because it needs to be dark to see the Aurora Borealis and it is never dark on the sun.

Despite that, however, just being able to show that these conditions can go both ways is quite interesting and unexpected.

Who wants to see the Aurora Borealis on the sun?

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.