Did you get to see the Northern Lights this past weekend? People as far south as Alabama saw the Northern lights this weekend, bringing this natural wonder of the world to people’s backyards! So, if you’re like me, you might have found yourself asking the following questions:
What are the northern lights?
According to Astronomer Sten Odenwald, the aurora borealis all begins with the Sun and the Earth’s magnetic field. The Sun essentially ejects gas, and the lights we see are the interaction between the gas and the Earth’s magnetic field. Though invisible, the magnetic field around the Earth essentially takes the shape of a comet and leaves a tail trailing behind the Earth. When the gas emitted by the Sun collides with the field, it causes the formation of charged particles. When in contact with oxygen and nitrogen, those particles create dazzling colors of light visible to the human eye.
Source: https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/astronomy/item/what-are-the-northern-lights/
Why could we see them all across the U.S.?
The bigger the solar storm, the more gas emitted and the higher the probability some of that gas will make its way to Earth’s magnetic field. the further south the lights can be seen. So thanks to the Sun having a larger-than-normal flare-up, thousands got to experience the beautiful phenomenon from their backyards.
Source: https://www.britannica.com/story/what-causes-the-northern-and-southern-lights
What are the chances of this happening again?
Solar activity is closely related to sunspots. Sunspots wax and wane over an eleven-year period. Twenty-twenty-four will see a maximum of solar flare activity which is why we saw the lights as far south as we did this past weekend. While we can’t predict the magnitude of gas released by the Sun or how much of it will interact with the Earth’s magnetic field, we can loosely expect similar flare-ups in this eleven-year pattern.
The internet was ablaze with funny posts of people’s regrets of going to bed too early Friday night, only to wake up to everyone’s posts about the northern lights. If you’re disappointed, I think there’s hope that this could happen again in all of our lifetimes, and if not maybe this is a sign to start saving for that plane ticket to Alaska!
Seeing the lights was a super special surprise this weekend. The planet we live on and the solar system we are a part of is truly amazing. You don’t usually reflect on that on a random Friday night but for thousands of people, we got to appreciate this reality for a second in a new way.