Starting Friday night, keep an eye on the sky for dazzling natural displays, depending on your location and weather conditions.
An unusual number of solar flares means the Aurora Borealis may appear in the sky as arcs of colors such as green, purple and red.
If you’re in a place with a lot of bright lights (like a city), you’ll have a hard time seeing anything. There are other complicating factors, such as weather.
The Northeast is likely to be covered by clouds Friday night. In the Midwest, skies may clear as the storm system passes.
With solar storm activity so intense, lights are possible as far south as northern Alabama and Georgia, where relatively clear night skies are expected.
However, viewing conditions can be relatively poor in the southern Plains and Rockies.
On the West Coast, weather should stay relatively cloudless, which may make for good viewing.
Some lights may also be visible outside the United States, such as Denmark and other parts of Scandinavia.
According to the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre, there is a good chance of seeing the lights in parts of the UK.
The agency said on social media: “The weather is expected to be fine and there is a good chance of seeing the auroras in the northern half of the UK.”
In fact, images of lights over England began appearing on social media just before midnight local time, including photos from London, despite the city’s light pollution.
Tip: If you are in a clear area, or even south of the aurora forecast site, you can use your phone to take photos or videos.
Sensors on cameras are more sensitive to the wavelengths produced by auroras, which may produce images that are invisible to the naked eye.
Why does this happen?
A severe solar storm is brewing.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a rare warning Friday after a solar outburst reached Earth.
When the sun undergoes a nuclear reaction, it typically expels material from its surface.
Officials said solar activity could cause power outages or interfere with navigation and communications systems.
These emissions can affect satellites close to Earth as well as ground infrastructure, causing disruptions to navigation systems, radio communications and even power grids.
This may sound shocking, but don’t worry.
The warning isn’t really for the public, so just go about your day as normal. (Unless maybe look up at the night sky for longer.)
“For most people on Earth, they don’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steinberg, a space scientist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “If everything works fine, the grid will be stable and they will be able to continue their daily lives.”
When did this happen?
Officials said material ejected from the sun could reach the Earth’s atmosphere by Friday afternoon or evening.
“What we expect over the next few days should be more important than what we’ve seen, certainly so far,” Mike Bettway, chief of operations for NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, said at a news conference on Friday. express.
What adds fuel to the fire?
The Space Weather Prediction Center said Friday night that we are experiencing an extreme solar storm, rising to a Category 5 from a Category 4 earlier in the day.
The center said the last extreme event occurred in October 2003, causing power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa.
The current storm is caused by a cluster of sunspots – dark, cool areas on the sun’s surface. The cluster burns and ejects material every 6 to 12 hours.
“We expect we’re going to get hit after hit after hit throughout the weekend,” said Brent Gordon, chief of the space weather services branch at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
katrina miller and Judson Jones Contributed reporting.
