Thanks To A Solar Flare, The Continental US May See The Northern Lights Tonight

The Northern Lights, aka the Aurora Borealis, are rarely seen in person outside the very extremes of the Earth. Video can’t quite capture the majesty of the Northern Lights, although it comes close, but tonight, the northern part of the US may be able to see it just by stepping outside and looking up.

The Aurora Borealis is usually limited to the pole thanks to its nature. The lights are created when the Earth’s magnetosphere is agitated by solar wind, ionizing little bits of the atmosphere and thus giving off light. Usually, that doesn’t happen outside of the most northernmost and southernmost latitudes because those locations get the most solar wind. But, lost amid Hurricane Irma and the general turmoil of a news cycle was a truly massive solar flare:

On Monday (Sept. 4), the sun blasted out a huge cloud of superheated plasma known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). This fast-moving CME is expected to slam into Earth overnight Wednesday, triggering strong geomagnetic storms. Such storms often supercharge Earth’s auroras, the ghostly displays of dancing color also known as the northern and southern lights. And that could be the case Wednesday night through early Thursday morning (Sept. 7)…

That’s expected to move the “auroral oval”, the range where you can see the phenomenon, substantially to the south, right in the range of much of the northern US. We won’t know for sure until the CME arrives. While a major solar event may put radio communications and power grids at risk, scientists aren’t worried about that happening with this particular storm. Mostly they believe the only noticeable effect will be the aurora. If it’s going to happen, NOAA has a prediction tool that will let you know a half-hour before they’re likely to appear.

It won’t be quite as crisp as the photos you see, if it happens: The moon is full tonight, which is a bit like turning on a flashlight at a laser show, and much of the Eastern Seaboard may be cloudy. But, hopefully, tonight, in an increasingly chaotic world, we can all have a peaceful interlude staring at the sky.

(via Space.com)

×