Plasmasphere shrinks to 1/5 size during Mother's Day solar storm

The Mother's Day solar storm, also known as the Gannon storm, was the most powerful solar storm in two decades. It squeezed the plasmasphere, a layer of charged particles surrounding the Earth, to one-fifth its size. The storm caused auroras to be seen as far north as Townsville and as far south as Florida. The storm was classified as an extreme G5 storm, the highest intensity on the G scale.