3 days Ago By Millie Turner
NORTHERN Lights are expected to grace skies in parts of the US tonight, after the sun kicked out a large explosion of plasma on Saturday. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), auroral displays are "likely" to be visible as a "strong" solar storm hits Earth. A map provided by NOAA shows exactly where the Northern Lights are expected to appear.
The green ovals turn red when the aurora is forecasted to be more intense. While Canada and Alaska are expected to enjoy the more intense displays, northern parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Maine may also catch a glimpse. "Aurora can often be observed somewhere on Earth from just after sunset or just before sunrise," according to NOAA.
READ MORE ON NORTHERN LIGHTS "The aurora does not need to be directly overhead but can be observed from as much as a 1000km away when the aurora is bright and if conditions are right." A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), a large explosion of solar plasma, was expelled from the Sun on Saturday. Auroral activity is expected to peak in the US on 16 September thanks to this recent expulsion, though it is expected to linger on into Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Here's the official explanation from Nasa...
The dancing lights of the auroras provide spectacular views on the ground, but also capture the imagination of scientists who study incoming energy and particles from the sun Auroras are one effect of such energetic particles, which can speed out from the sun both in a steady stream called the solar wind and due to giant eruptions known as coronal mass ejections or CMEs After a trip toward Earth that can last two to three days, the solar particles and magnetic fields cause the release of particles already trapped near Earth, which in turn trigger reactions in the upper atmosphere in which oxygen and nitrogen molecules release photons of light The result: the Northern and Southern lights. The Sun is currently in a period of heightened solar activity, which is expected to cause a 23-year-high in Northern Lights sightings but also radio blackouts. Most read in Science The phenomenon is known as the Solar Maximum, which typically occurs every 11 years or so.
This is when the Sun's activity reaches its peak, and produces more CMEs and therefore more auroral displays. According to Nasa, CMEs happen about once a week during the solar minimum but can occur two to three times per day during the solar maximum. There are currently up to nine sunspot regions on the side of the Sun that faces Earth.
These regions are usually where CMEs are born, as they are localised fields of strong magnetic flux. While the Northern Lights are visually stunning, and sit on the bucket lists of many people, they can cause disruption to radio and satellite navigation signals. What is it, why does it exist, and why is it so ruddy hot all the time? The Sun is a huge star that lives at the centre of our solar system It’s a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, and provides most of the energy for life on Earth It measures a staggering 865,000 miles across – making it 109 times bigger than Earth But its weight is 330,000 times that of Earth, and accounts for almost all of the mass in the Solar System The Sun is mostly made up of hydrogen (73%), helium (25%) and then a number of other elements like oyxgen, carbon and iron Its surface temperature is around 5,505C Scientists describe the Sun as being “middle-aged” The Sun formed 4.
6billion years ago, and tt’s been in its current state for around four billion years It’s expected that it will remain stable for another five billion years It doesn’t have enough mass to explode as a supernova Instead, we expect it to turn a hulking red giant During this phase, it will be so big that it will engulf Mercury, Venus and Earth Eventually it will turn into an incredibly hot white dwarf, and will stay that way for trillions of years.
