If you ’re in the Northern US or Canada , you might have a good prospect of seeing the Northern Lights tonight , as a small solar storm hold its direction to Earth .
Northern state such as Michigan and Maine are expect to be in with a bit of a show , according to theSpace Weather Prediction Center(SWPC ) , a result of a G1 division geomagnetic storm due to the Sun .
That’spretty weak(the scale goes up to G5 ) , but it should still be enough to blow up the aurora borealis for some observers . It ’s the result of a coronal hollow that open on the Sun on March 12 , sending a stream of solar particles our way .
According to the NOAA’saurora prognosis , which you could see below , the break of day should be seeable quite far south tonight . It should also be seeable in parts of the UK , mostly Scotland and a few northern places , although it could be seen as far south as London .
The first light should go on putting on a show for the next couple of day . The respectable way to catch a glimpse is to look up on a exonerated night in an area without much light pollution , so bulge out notice those black sky sites .
A G1 tempest can cause some power grid issues , and also affect satellites . as luck would have it , we can prepare for these event by bed when they will occur , which is why organizations like the SWPC are so important .
Note that there are a lot of sham headlines making the round of golf about a massive solar storm that is headed our direction that could induce a lot of damage . Some have even suggested “ equinox cracks ” in Earth ’s magnetic orbit could leave us vulnerable .
“ This is just garbage , quite candidly , ” Robert Rutledge from the SWPC toldMashable .
The minor storm is a bit unusual though in that it ’s triggered by a coronal fix . Normally we relate geomagnetic storms with solar flare and coronal mass forcing out ( CMEs ) , eruptions of material from the Sun ’s surface .
However , even a coronal jam can get geomagnetic storms . These arecolder regionswhere the Sun ’s magnetic field phone line have “ opened ” , permit spicy gases and particles to escape . As such they ’re a mo less vivid than storms due to solar flare pass – but they can still put on a near show for us .
The Sun is currently heading towards itssolar minimumin 2019 or 2020 , the phase in its 11 - yr solar cycle when its flare activity lessens . But during this phase , the numeral of coronal holes actually increase and can last for a long time , so there could be a few more of these minor storms on the way .
