Night skies alert: Northern lights!

by Lucy Martin on March 18th, 2015

St. Patrick's Day Green Aurora Last night Earth experienced a geomagnetic storm and aurora were visible in the Northern U.S. states. These images of aurora were captured on March 17, 2015, around 5:30 a.m. EDT in Donnelly Creek, Alaska by Sebastian Saarloos. These aurora might have been caused by the fast solar wind streaming from two solar coronal holes. Image Courtesy of Sebastian Saarloos.

From NASA’s website: St. Patrick’s Day Green Aurora
Last night Earth experienced a geomagnetic storm and aurora were visible in the Northern U.S. states. This image was captured last night around 5:30 am in Donnelly Creek, Alaska. These aurora might have been caused by the fast solar wind streaming from two solar coronal holes. Photo: courtesy of Sebastian Saarloos.

I’ve only seen displays of Aurora borealis (“Northern lights”) in person once, years ago, when we lived in Kars, Ontario. A thoughtful neighbor ran over to say we should come look.

Standing in our yards, the display was fairly subtle, ripples of undulating light in mild color bands. Didn’t matter. It was still breath-taking.

Would I like to see more? Absolutely! So here’s hoping that a media alert for night skies this week could pay off. CBC is talking it up “Northern lights to dazzle in skies across Canada: Aurora borealis may be visible as far south as northern California“.

A large G4 geo-magnetic solar storm was noted Tuesday morning (EST), which produces more of the energy that makes the effect in our atmosphere. Tuesday night reports and images of northern light activity were extensive and exciting. Tonight’s prospects (Wednesday) could still be good too.

The Canadian Space Agency’s website on Northern Lights includes links to a live AuroroaMAX HD camera in Yellowknife that (weather and conditions permitting) can be viewed tonight. Want to photograph what you see up there? Here are some tips for doing that.

There’s lots more at the Space Weather Prediction section of the National Oceanic and Atmospherics (NOAA).

Did any readers already experience this Tuesday night? Sadly, this has already peaked. But let’s hope there will still be more left to see!