Photos: See the Northern lights from rare solar storm (2024)

FAQs

How far south in the US can the northern lights be seen? ›

Americans as far south as Alabama and Northern California were being treated to a show of the northern lights this weekend from a powerful geomagnetic storm which reached Earth, officials said.

The rarest colours to see are deep blues or purple, which are a result of ionised nitrogen at the lowest altitudes in the thermosphere.

The Northern Lights, also known as the aurora borealis are caused by the CMEs released from the Sun, throwing out atoms with electric charges, called charged particles out into space. The lights appear when these charged particles hit gases in the Earth's atmosphere.

Best time to view northern lights

The best time to view the northern lights is between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA says optimal viewing time for the aurora is generally within an hour or two of midnight—so between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time. The agency recommends getting away from city lights and finding a spot with a clear vantage point to the north to optimize viewing chances.

Planning your Northern Lights trip and want to get the best advice? As we approach another Solar maximum period, solar activity will start ramping up, and auroras should increase in frequency, peaking in 2024/2025.

That said, it's hard not to get excited by the buzz around the current Solar Cycle #25, which started in 2020. Many scientists are reporting that this solar cycle could be one of the strongest on record, a prediction being played out with incredibly strong auroras in 2023.

The center's experimental forecast map shows the aurora may be visible Sunday in New England, the Midwest, the Upper Plains, and the Pacific Northwest regions. The streaks of light may be seen as far South as Iowa and Nebraska.

Among these, red is considered the rarest color of the Northern Lights. Red auroras occur at high altitudes of over 241 kilometers (150 miles), where the air is thinner. Here, the solar particles collide with oxygen atoms less frequently, making red lights rare and short-lived.

Purple hues in the northern lights are less common but not unheard of. These colours are usually produced by a mix of nitrogen and oxygen molecules at varying altitudes and with different energy levels. The specific shades of purple and pink depend on the altitude and the types of molecules involved.

What is the biggest aurora borealis in history? ›

One day I started googling and it turn out to be surprisingly solid answer: the biggest Aurora Borealis were seen 1859 during the so called Carrington Event. Carrington Event is named after British astronomer Richard Carrington.

They occur when the magnetic fields in and around the Sun reconnect, releasing huge amounts of stored magnetic energy. Flares are our solar system's most powerful explosive events. The NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has extended the Geomagnetic Storm Warning until the afternoon of May 13, 2024.

A good display may last between 15 and 30 minutes, although if you're really lucky, it could extend to a couple of hours or longer. To see the Northern Lights, the sky needs to be dark and clear of any clouds.

Typically, a solar storm takes a day or so to reach and pass Earth. The recent one lasted several days, Liemohn explains, because the sun released several storms in quick succession. “Earth is in the recovery phase of the storm now, which will last a few more days,” he said on May 12.

On rare occasions the aurora borealis can be seen as far south as the Mediterranean and the southern states of the US. During the Carrington Event, the greatest geomagnetic storm ever observed, auroras were seen even in the tropics.

The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, were predicted to be visible as far south as Alabama and Northern California. People reported seeing the lights as far south as Florida and Oklahoma.

The center's experimental forecast map shows the aurora may be visible Sunday in New England, the Midwest, the Upper Plains, and the Pacific Northwest regions. The streaks of light may be seen as far South as Iowa and Nebraska.

Should it reach G4 strength, those living in Alabama and northern California may have a chance at seeing the northern lights. Solar activity that causes a G5 storm, like the storm we saw Friday, has been known to make aurora appear in Florida and even southern Texas.