Auroras expected tonight and through the weekend as US braces for ‘cannibal’ solar eruption
The last gasp of a powerful coronal mass ejection that hit Earth on Tuesday will bring lovely auroras to parts of the northern US and most of Canada tonight, with more displays on the way this weekend. Tonight may be the last chance for skywatchers in some areas to see the northern lights triggered by the solar eruption.
The northern lights can be visible tonight in parts of northern Washington, Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and Maine. These displays are much lower than usual latitudes where the ethereal light shows are typically seen.
Far more intense auroral displays are likely to be visible in northern Canada and Alaska.
To see if a region near you falls within the predicted viewing zone, check out NOAA’s latest aurora forecast map below.
Tonight’s auroras are the result of several powerful blasts of solar radiation that hit our planet’s atmosphere on Tuesday and Wednesday. These hot, fast-moving globs of solar particles are known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which occur when tangled magnetic field lines on the sun suddenly snap and then realign, flinging wads of plasma into space.
Stronger CMEs tend to produce more widespread auroras; in May, for example, the most powerful geomagnetic storm in more than 20 years produced auroras visible as far south as Florida. Tonight’s auroras won’t reach such extremes but do originate from a stronger-than-usual “cannibal” solar explosion.
More auroras are predicted to appear at similar latitudes this weekend after another CME hits Earth around midday Saturday.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/last-chance-to-see-auroras-from-cannibal-solar-explosion-over-us-tonight