Sunday Night’s Northern Lights — What To Know
by Jamie Carter · ForbesIt’s likely that Sunday night could see a rare display of the Northern Lights — also known as the aurora borealis — at mid-latitudes.
The warning from SpaceWeather.com comes in the wake of two massive X-rated solar flares — an X7.1 and an X9.1 — on Thursday, Oct. 3, that led to what astronomers call coronal mass ejections.
Solare flares are powerful bursts of electromagnetic radiation that travel at light speed and take only eight minutes to reach Earth, often disrupting some radio communications and satellites. Both X-flares came from active sunspot AR3842.
CMEs are much slower-moving clouds of charged particles, which take a few days to reach Earth — and cause the Northern Lights.
Crucially, both of the CMEs are traveling in the direction of Earth, but at different speeds. When they arrive, geomagnetic storms are predicted to ignite, the first on Friday, Oct. 4 and the second — and probably the most powerful — on Sunday, Oct. 6.
Whether Sunday's display will rival May 10’s extreme G5 geomagnetic storm — the most severe in the past two decades — is unknown, with space weather forecasting still in its infancy.
MORE FOR YOU
NYT ‘Strands’ Today: Hints, Spangram And Answers For Friday, October 4th
Menendez Brothers Case Gets New Legal Review As Controversial ‘Monsters’ Continues To Top Netflix Charts
Prepare For Big Northern Lights Display This Weekend After Massive Solar Flare
What NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center is forecasting is a G3 (Strong) geomagnetic storm on Friday and Sunday. That means aurora as far south as Illinois and Oregon, but don't be surprised if what materializes is a G4 (Intense) geomagnetic storm. The latter could mean aurora as being seen as far south as Alabama and northern California. The greatest expected Kp index for the aurora borealis for Oct. 4-6 is 7.
Before heading out to search for aurora, check for:
- Clear skies.
- NOAA's aurora view line,
- NOAA's 30-minute forecast and X account (where the latest forecasts are posted).
- In the U.K.? Check Lancaster University's AuroraWatch website for the latest information.
Note that you'll need to observe with the naked eye from a site with low light pollution if you're to see anything impressive, such as an International Dark Sky Place (U.S./worldwide) or a Dark-Sky Preserve (Canada).
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.