Sun Gone Wild! Aurora Borealis Might Paint the US Sky This Weekend

Attention, stargazers! The Aurora Borealis, sometimes called the Northern Lights, may be visible this weekend in some regions of the United States. Fasten your seatbelts, as this is all the result of some incredible space weather!

The situation is as follows

Not everything under our sun is sunshine and rainbows. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are supercharged particles that fly extremely quickly towards Earth, are occasionally released by it. These particles impact our atmosphere after being directed toward the poles by Earth’s magnetic field. Those incredible auroras are the result of this titanic conflict! 

This time, the sun erupted into a G5, the strongest type of geomagnetic storm! The auroras are visible considerably further south than normal, which is a neat side effect even if it may interfere with certain satellites and other things. Sightings have been reported all the way down to Alabama and Mississippi!

This is your opportunity to see a real-life light display if you’re fortunate enough to live somewhere with little light pollution and clear skies! You can forecast aurora activity using websites and applications, and this weekend’s new moon will reduce background light interference.

Just make sure you pick a dark area to stare north and wrap up warm. In the event of clear skies and some luck, you might just witness a magical display of nature’s light show!