The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, made a dazzling appearance in several U.S. states on Tuesday night. If you missed it, there’s still a chance to witness this awe-inspiring natural phenomenon tonight. A strong solar storm has sent solar particles towards Earth, interacting with the magnetosphere and igniting the northern lights in vibrant hues of green and red.
While the solar storm may pose minimal threats to satellites, GPS signals, and power grids, it has created an unusual opportunity for a wider visibility of the auroras. Canadians and Alaskans typically have the best views of the northern lights, but residents of northern U.S. states can still enjoy a coveted glimpse of the stunning light display on Wednesday night.
Here’s what you need to know about the northern lights and how to view them:
Where can you see the auroras?
Auroras are usually best observed near the magnetic poles of the Northern and Southern hemispheres in regions like Europe, Asia, and North America. Alaska is renowned for offering excellent viewing spots for the northern lights in the U.S. However, a solar storm tracked by NOAA has extended the visibility of the auroras beyond the poles.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center has detected geomagnetic activity with a Kp index of 5, indicating brighter auroras. The agency suggests that if you are in the right location, the auroras can be a breathtaking sight. An image from NOAA typically illustrates the brightness and location of the auroras as a green oval centered on Earth’s magnetic pole. The green ovals turn red when the aurora is forecast to be more intense. A red “viewline” marks the southern-most locations where the aurora may be visible on the northern horizon.
The northern lights were widely visible in the U.S. on Tuesday and may still be visible on Wednesday in states such as Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The red viewline extends to states like Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
When is the best time to see the northern lights?
Although conditions are favorable for upcoming aurora displays, accurately predicting when and where they will occur remains a challenge for experts. Typically, the best time to catch the auroras is within an hour or two of midnight when the weather is clear. It’s recommended to head to dark, light pollution-free locations outside cities for optimal viewing.
NOAA provides an aurora dashboard to help track the phenomenon, and their 30-minute aurora forecast offers regular updates on viewing opportunities.
What causes the northern lights?
The aurora borealis is a natural light display in Earth’s sky that is most spectacularly visible in high-latitude regions of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. These lights occur when charged particles from space collide with Earth’s atmosphere, interacting with molecules and gases like oxygen and nitrogen to produce the mesmerizing display in the sky.
To regain energy, particles emit light as they return to their normal state, as explained by the University of Alaska at Fairbanks Geophysical Institute website. Auroras are created as Earth’s magnetic field guides the particles towards the poles, producing a mesmerizing array of colors and patterns that have captivated humans for centuries. The colors seen in the auroras, such as green, red, blue, and pink, depend on factors like altitude, atmosphere composition, and density during the collisions.
The recent increase in solar activity during the sun’s 11-year cycle has led to more frequent occurrences of “space weather,” creating optimal conditions for northern lights to appear. Solar surface regions with strong magnetic activity, like sunspots, are generating powerful bursts of radiation known as solar flares. These flares, along with coronal mass ejections of plasma and charged particles from the sun’s corona, can interact with Earth’s magnetosphere and trigger geomagnetic storms that result in breathtaking displays of the northern lights in regions where they are rarely seen.
With NASA predicting the solar peak to continue until 2025, enthusiasts chasing auroras can expect plenty of opportunities to witness the northern lights.
