Northern lights will be visible in US on New Year’s Eve… here’s how to see the cosmic phenomena

As revelers across the US ring in the New Year with fireworks, another dazzling display of light could be lighting up the night sky: the Northern Lights.

The sun emitted two bursts of plasma earlier this week that were expected to arrive on Tuesday and Wednesday, creating cosmic phenomena in several US states.

People in Alaska, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine are likely to see the Northern Lights.

Parts of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Iowa and New York may also have a view.

To spy the spectacle, wait until the clear weather turns dark and then go outside, ideally away from bright city lights.

Taking a photo with a smartphone camera can also reveal hints of the aurora that aren’t visible to the naked eye.

But if you miss them on New Year’s Eve, the natural light show may be visible again after nightfall on New Year’s Day.

From December 28 to 29, the Sun produced a “flurry of activity,” including two coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or large bursts of plasma and magnetic field from the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere.

These CEMs will start producing successive geomagnetic storms, which are disturbances in the Earth’s magnetosphere that can also cause radio blackouts and disrupt satellites.

Auroras, or ribbons of colorful light, that sweep across Earth’s polar regions are also a result of this influx of charged particles.

The first CME is expected to arrive sometime this morning or later today, producing a G3, or “severe,” geomagnetic storm.

The second one comes sometime tomorrow. Current models suggest it will produce a G1, or “minor,” geomagnetic storm, but experts are exploring the possibility that the impact could be slightly stronger, similar to a G2, or “moderate,” storm.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) won’t know exactly when the Northern Lights will be visible or how strong they will be until the CMEs are within a million miles of Earth, or 30 to 60 minutes away from impacting our planet. planet.

This isn’t the first time this year that the Northern Lights have appeared over the US.

This sun is currently at solar maximum, the peak of its eleven-year cycle, when the sun’s magnetic poles reverse and activity increases.

As a result, 2024 has seen a large number of CMEs, solar flares, and other solar phenomena. Several of these CMEs collided with Earth, creating stunning, far-reaching auroral images.

To see the Northern Lights, choose a viewing area that is far away from city lights or other sources of light pollution

In May, for example, a powerful geomagnetic storm brought the Northern Lights to states as far south as Florida, Texas and Virginia.

This was unprecedented, as the Northern Lights are usually located around the North Pole and rarely venture to those lower latitudes.

The severe geomagnetic storm predicted for today could also have other consequences.

This disruption of the Earth’s magnetic field can also disrupt technology and infrastructure, such as satellites, radio communications and the electrical grid.

But those consequences should be small, NOAA said.

The agency will provide updates on the timing, location and visibility of the aurora as the CME gets closer to Earth.

But it looks like this New Year’s Eve will have an extra festive touch to cap off a wonderful year of solar activity.