The northern lights once again dazzled Americans as flashes of green, purple and pink lit up the night sky in much of the northern United States on Saturday night, but the display was not as vivid as Friday and reached farther south. There wasn’t.
Forecasters say spectacular views are expected for the third night in a row Sunday.
“The ongoing geomagnetic storm is likely to intensify again later today,” the Space Weather Prediction Center posted on X Sunday. During periods of stronger geomagnetic storm conditions, auroras are more widespread and visible at lower latitudes.
The center’s forecast map shows aurora borealis could be seen in areas of New England, the Midwest, Upper Plains and Pacific Northwest on Sunday. Streaks of light may be visible as far south as Iowa and Nebraska.
If you missed the view due to cloud cover Friday or Saturday, you might be lucky Sunday, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kinnes told USA TODAY. Northern lights activity should be more visible in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, where clouds have covered much of the past two nights, but if you live in the center of the country, clouds may block it. there is.
Americans across the country shared stunning photos of the dancing lights Friday and Saturday night.
Tips for seeing the Northern Lights
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency of the Space Weather Prediction Center, the aurora borealis are typically best visible within one to two hours of midnight local time.
- Look for an area with the darkest sky possible.
- Look north.
- Even if the dancing lights weren’t visible to the naked eye, people could see them Friday night through cell phone cameras set for night vision.
- The aurora is not constant, so if you don’t see the aurora after 15 minutes, it doesn’t mean you won’t see it later in the evening.
- As the level of geomagnetic activity increases, the hours become longer towards evening and morning.
What’s causing this weekend’s Northern Lights?
This spectacle is caused by magnetic storms erupting from sunspots.
The storm was unusually strong and was classified as a top-level “extreme” (or G5) storm, the Space Weather Prediction Center announced Friday night. This is the first G5 storm to hit Earth since 2003.
“There have been reports of power grid anomalies and degradation of high-frequency communications and GPS,” the Space Weather Prediction Center said in an update on Saturday.
NASA describes the aurora as “a complex dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth.” The reason the aurora moves is because of how the sun’s ionized gases interact with the Earth’s magnetic field.
According to NOAA, a coronal ejection is a large-scale release of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona. This ejection releases billions of tons of coronal material, which expands as it moves away from the Sun. The fastest-moving ejecta reach Earth in just 15 to 18 hours.
What is the probability of seeing the aurora based on?
Observing the aurora at its peak requires clear skies and dark skies, which are more likely to occur over a larger area when geomagnetic storm activity is at its highest.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uses a scale to assess the strength of magnetic storms when coronal mass ejections from the sun reach the outer layers of Earth’s atmosphere, similar to the scale it uses to measure the strength of hurricanes and tornadoes. also used.
The AG 5 (Extreme) rating represents the greatest chance of seeing the aurora borealis over the largest expanse of Earth. That’s what happened Friday night as people saw the northern lights in the Florida Keys and Mexico. As the level of geomagnetic activity increases, the viewing hours expand from evening to morning.
On Saturday night, the observed scale was G 3 (strong).
NOAA predicts the storm could reach G4 (intense) activity Sunday night. Several intense coronal mass ejections are expected to reach Earth’s atmosphere later today.
‘Two amazing sights in space’: Northern lights occur about a month after a solar eclipse
Antonella Fruscione, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, said it was extremely rare to see such strong auroras in this far south.
“This is a very rare occurrence, especially because it was clearly visible (Friday) night,” Fruscione said.
Fulcione was surprised when he saw the aurora borealis. She sent photos of the scene and the total solar eclipse in April to her friends in Italy.
Fruscione and a group of friends from the United States and Europe traveled from their home in Boston to northern New Hampshire to view the April 8 solar eclipse, which will occur during a total solar eclipse.
“I said, ‘Can you imagine how lucky I am this year? I get to see these two incredible cosmic sights, one month apart,'” she told a friend. I remembered when I spoke to them.
Tips for viewing the aurora borealis
The best time to view the aurora borealis is generally within an hour or two of midnight, but this time period extends into the early evening, early evening and early morning due to increased levels of geomagnetic activity, the Space Weather Prediction Center said. .
According to experts, it should be dark for the best views. Auroras cannot be seen during the day. You should also try to escape the light pollution of big cities, Cains said. The darker the view, the better the view, but some people reported seeing bright aurora activity in metropolitan areas like Milwaukee and Detroit on Friday.
Even the brightness of a full moon can dampen the sight. Luckily, the only moon this weekend is a crescent.
