Solar storms bring northern lights to much of U.S. : NPR

Geomagnetic storms brought the northern lights to much of the U.S. Tuesday night, turning the sky vibrant shades of green and pink.

The Northern Lights have been spotted in many states, including Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas And Washington state. The northern lights were visible even in the south, in some parts Florida And AlabamaA relatively rare The event underscores the severity of this week's storms.

“Well, we had activity tonight—a lot of geomagnetic storm activity,” Sean Dahl, service coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, said in a release. video on X.

A geomagnetic storm occurs when charged particles in the solar atmosphere interact with the Earth's magnetic field. Besides creating stunning color displayssuch storms can disrupt technology on Earth, from satellites and GPS to radio communications and the power grid.

Tuesday's activity was the result of a phenomenon called coronal mass ejections (CME) are massive ejections of plasma and magnetic field from the outer atmosphere of the Sun that increase in size as they approach Earth.

Two CMEs arrived at Earth on Tuesday, Dahl said.

The resulting storm reached G4 levelsecond largest on NOAA's five-stage scale, and created a magnetic field that was “not only eight times stronger than normal, but… also favorable for continued activity,” Dahl said in his report. late update.

Forecasters are awaiting the third and final MCU, which they expect will arrive on Earth in Wednesday noon and be even stronger than the previous two.

“This was the most energetic and powerful activity in space,” Dahl said. “He was moving significantly faster than those two, and we think it will be an even bigger impact than the one we've already experienced.”

This was reported by the Space Weather Forecasting Center. the aurora could become visible “over much of the northern half of the country and perhaps even as far south as Alabama to northern California.”

Met OfficeThe UK's National Weather Service says the aurora may also be visible over parts of Britain on Wednesday evening, although it is likely to be obscured by cloud cover as case in Michigan on Tuesday.

Luckily, Americans in the northern states won't have to wait long for another chance to see this spectacle.

How to see (and photograph!) the Northern Lights

Seeing the Northern Lights requires a dark environment, so it is important to avoid light pollution if you want to see the Northern Lights well. It's easiest to see between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time, according to NOAA.

It's difficult to predict the exact time and location of the northern lights, but you can sign up for various services that will alert you when the aurora might be visible in your area. For example, a citizen science platform called Aurorasaurus allows users to report when and where they see the aurora, and also provides estimates of how visible the aurora is in a certain area.

Another option is the My Aurora Forecast & Alerts app, available for download on iOS and Android devices. It is a location based app that gives viewing probabilities and predictions.

Smartphone cameras are better at capturing the full spectrum of the aurora than our naked eyes, so be sure to take your phone with you to see a more complete spectrum of colors. If your phone camera has a night mode, it's best to turn it on when photographing the northern lights. You can also switch your phone camera to manual mode and adjust the exposure settings to get the perfect image.

Why are we seeing more northern lights?

Auroras have been occurring more frequently in the United States for some time and will continue to do so for several months. This influx of shimmering colors occurs because the Sun is reaching the peak of its 11-year cycle and therefore its solar maximum. Solar maximum causes solar eruptions, and this increase in activity brings ions, or electrically charged particles, closer to Earth. This stream of particles is known as the solar wind.

As solar winds approach Earth, charged particles collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere. When they collide, light is emitted. The light is emitted at different wavelengths, creating a colorful image in the night sky.

When the Sun is at solar maximum, the number of solar eruptions increases, causing more auroras to appear in the sky. Typically this activity is only observed near the Arctic Circle, but with solar activity now strong, observation areas have expanded to other regions, such as the Midwest.