If you live in one of the visible areas on this map, you may be in for a treat tonight! According to AccuWeather.com, the solar flares of the Northern Lights are ranked as an X-class tonight, the highest class for a solar flare which may make the Northern Lights display as far south as Maryland on the East Coast, and as far down as Nebraska, further west.
If you live in one of the visible areas on this map, you may be in for a treat tonight!
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According to AccuWeather.com, the solar flares of the Northern Lights are ranked as an X-class tonight, the highest class for a solar flare which may make the Northern Lights display as far south as Maryland on the East Coast, and as far down as Nebraska, further west.
The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, are a natural light display that is usually seen at high latitude regions. The vibrant lights are caused by the collision of solar wind and magnetospheric charged particles with the high altitude atmosphere.
AccuWeather.com states that a coronal mass ejection (CME), or a cloud of charged particles released from solar activity, is expected to induce a geomagnetic storm in Earth's atmosphere, around midday today. AccuWeather.com Astronomer Hunter Outten said that this CME will be the second of a "two-hit punch," as another had hit the Earth on Thursday. The geomagnetic storm will cause the northern lights show.
"There will be a pretty good chance to see the northern lights [Friday] because of the first geomagnetic storm Thursday night," Outten said. "It's good timing."
Outten said that with northern light displays, the best viewing will occur around midnight in each respective time zone, but that they will start being visible after night falls.
There will be some viewing hurdles though, explains Outten. First, we're just getting out of the Supermoon, so the light will dull some of the views. There will also be some cloud coverage that will hinder views as well. This in addition to light pollution may also make it difficult to see the colors.
Reports indicate that a flare of this magnitude could also have adverse effects on GPS, radio frequencies and cell phone and satellite reception as well.
We hope you have a clear view tonight to enjoy this rare spectacular display of light and color!
Read more at AccuWeather.com.
Image credit: AccuWeather.com.
