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Tonight, this weekend, the Northern Lights could be visible: when and where

Vaseline October 6, 2024

The sun has had a busy week.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather, the first few days of October will see a lot of solar activity with two observed coronal mass ejections, including the massive X7.1 solar flare on Tuesday, and then a rare X9 solar flare on Thursday . Prediction Center.

Solar flares are sudden bursts of energy that occur on the surface of the sun and can cause aurora sightings here on Earth.

This means that the coming weekend could offer many Americans the chance to see the Northern Lights — the colorful phenomenon known as aurora borealis — in the sky on Friday and Saturday evenings.

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The Northern Lights may peak on Saturday evening

As of Friday afternoon, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center is predicting a “mild-strong” geomagnetic storm from Oct. 4 to 6, with activity peaking late Saturday evening toward Sunday.

The center said external variables could affect the reliability of the forecast, including the precise trajectory of the solar eruption, which could change during the 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) journey to Earth.

“This forecast is associated with a significant degree of uncertainty because initial space weather predictions rely on remote and limited solar observations,” the center said in a statement to USA TODAY on Wednesday. “Auroras can be unpredictable and wax and wane rapidly. Visibility can range from bright and relatively high in the sky to dim and low on the northern horizon (perhaps only visible in long exposure camera views), or not visible at all.”

On Friday, the center expects the Northern Lights to be visible near the Canadian border, assuming clear weather conditions. On Saturday, the phenomenon could be visible as far south as Oregon, Nebraska, Illinois and Pennsylvania. As of Friday, weather models showed that large parts of the United States will have clear skies on Saturday evening.

Why are the Northern Lights more common?

As auroras form, Earth’s magnetic field sends the particles toward the poles through a process that produces a stunning display of beams, spirals and flickers that have fascinated people for thousands of years. Whether shades of green, red, blue and pink dance in the sky depends on the altitude at which the collisions occur, as well as the composition and density of the atmosphere at that time.

According to NOAA, sunspots should increase in areas of intense magnetic activity by then. When that magnetic activity is released, it creates intense bursts of radiation that result in solar flares – considered by NASA to be the largest explosive event in our solar system.

Solar flares emit radiation, usually in the form of ultraviolet light and X-rays, that can travel toward Earth at the speed of light. Some of these outbursts may be accompanied by coronal mass ejections, or clouds of plasma and charged particles, emerging from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona.

These emissions can collide with Earth’s magnetosphere, the barrier that protects humanity from the harshest effects of space weather, and cause geomagnetic storms.

Eric Lagatta and Anthony Robledo Jr. contributed to this report.

Max Hauptman is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. He can be reached at [email protected]