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March 2024 may be the best month of the year to see the Northern Lights, aka aurora borealis.
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That’s because the sun is hyperactive, and the equinox can create holes in the Earth’s magnetic field.
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Here’s everything you need to see the northern lights.
This could be the best month, of the best year in twenty years, to see the Northern Lights, thanks in part to openings in the Earth’s magnetic field.
The aurora borealis, commonly known as the Northern Lights, are the spectacular ribbons of shimmering green, pink, purple and red that dance in the Arctic skies.
When the conditions are just right, they can be seen as far south as Arizona or even Florida.
If you’re lucky and plan it right, you might be able to see the Northern Lights this month. This all applies to the aurora australis (the Southern Lights) as well, in places like Australia and New Zealand.
Why the sun and the holes in our magnetic field make good auroras now
The Northern Lights occur when charged particles and magnetic fields flowing from the sun, known as the solar wind, wash over Earth.
Our planet’s magnetic field directs the solar wind towards the poles, where the charged solar particles interact with molecules in the atmosphere to form the colorful aurora.
Both stages of that process are currently extended.
For one, the sun is near the peak of its solar cycle. Powerful eruptions, solar flares, and bursts of solar wind from coronal holes in the sun’s atmosphere are becoming more common, sending more winds blowing across our planet.
Second, once those winds reach Earth, spring and fall are the best times to produce spectacular aurora. Scientists think that is because of the equinoxes.
The equinox occurs when the Earth’s axis is perpendicular to the sun’s rays. This is due to a special alignment where our planet’s magnetic field points exactly opposite the direction of many of the solar wind’s magnetic fields.
This alignment causes the magnetic fields of the Earth and the sun to merge. The process, known as magnetic reconnection, creates openings in the Earth’s magnetic field that allow the solar wind to transfer energy to our atmosphere, potentially causing more aurora.
Although he doesn’t like the analogy, Matt Owens, a professor of space physics at the University of Reading, told Business Insider in an email that “the reconnection process could very loosely be described as making holes or cracks in the magnetosphere”.
Specifically, March was the most active month for auroras in NASA’s study of 75 years of data. October was second last, then April, then September.
In March 2023 there was the biggest aurora event of that year, for example. At the end of the month, a series of solar activities triggered auroras so powerful they were visible across the US, as far south as Phoenix, Arizona.
It happened quickly, though, and most people missed it.
How to see and photograph the aurora
First, check the aurora forecast on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website. If things are happening on the sun, this can change from day to day.
When the northern lights come to lower latitudes, including most of the US, they can be smaller than what appears in photos from Alaska or Norway.
Instead…
… you might be looking for something like this:
So if you live in a city, do your best to leave it. Find a safe place with clear dark skies away from city lights.
Prepare for cold weather with blankets and hot drinks. You may have used your phone or looked at screens to get where you need to go, so be patient, and let your eyes adjust to the dark.
If you can’t leave the city, do your best to prevent its light pollution. Go to a nearby nature reserve, or to a hilltop, and try to keep the city lights out of your sight.
Look for anything colorful and out of the ordinary. There are several different types of aurora.
You can try taking pictures of the auroras with a camera, but make sure not to move it too quickly from a hot to a cold environment to avoid condensation, according to the Royal Photographic Society.
Preset your camera before you leave a warmer space so your fingers don’t get too cold – a higher aperture may be better, but you may need to adjust your settings if the aurora is moving quickly. You can find information on how to set up SLR cameras here.
This could be your best chance for another decade
The sun could reach solar maximum this year or next year. That happens when the poles of our star flip, causing damage to its magnetic fields and peak solar activity.
That’s why over the past year, we’ve seen a plasma vortex swirling like a whirlpool around the sun pole, huge coronal” hole” in our sun, and a solar “tornado” the size of 14 Earths.
It is about ten years from the last solar maximum, and once it is over the sun’s activity will decrease and it will be another 11 years until the next one.
Read the original article on Business Insider
