Recap of May’s Spectacular Display:-
There’s a chance going into our Thursday evening that you could catch a little display in the sky. What are we talking about? Well, it’s right behind me. Of course, the aurora borealis as they call them the northern lights, as you probably understand them.
You might remember back in the month of May earlier this year, many months ago, there was a great display and it almost caught a lot of us. Well, it really did catch a lot of us by surprise. This was the view across our triad area of North Carolina, most of the country, most of the south even got good glimpses for the first time in almost a generation of naked eye aurora borealis. Those northern lights were really bright at that one point.And even if they’re there, you might not see them with your naked eye, maybe only the foam, but it’s worth looking if this interests you.
What to Expect Tonight:-
So, we’re talking about this evening a little bit late, this is for Thursday evening, October the 10th. That’s what we’re talking about here. And how would you see them? How would you make your chances better to get a good glimpse of the aurora this evening? Well, here’s what you would wanna do again. Just a chance of this happening.
Best Viewing Conditions:-
There’s timing involved here. So the way that northern lights work is, it’s all involved with energy traveling from the sun and then kind of reacting with the earth’s magnetic field. So this case, the energy is already there. We just have to wait for it to get dark between seven pm and midnight would be your best opportunity because after midnight, a lot of that energy from the sun seems like it’s going to be starting to decline at that point.
Utilizing Your Phone Camera:-
So get out there once it gets dark, start looking and you wanna be looking at the north sky number one, look north away from your city lights. Of course, you want to get away from those city lights, make it as dark as you can and look toward the north. Also, don’t just rely on your eyes. You can make, of course, you’re gonna wanna take a picture, bring the phone with you and even use the phone to help you spot where they might be, you can hold it up to the sky that night mode should activate and what the night mode really does.
It’s a long exposure setting. So it brings in more light into your camp phone in this case and it allows you to see more than you would otherwise with just your naked eyes. So give that a chance. Here’s the forecast for this evening. And again, this comes from some of the, the experts at the Space Weather Prediction Center and the University of Alaska in Fairbanks kind of a blend between the two opinions here.
But they’re saying there’s a very good chance of aurora happening in the northern part of the country. That makes sense, right? If you’re farther north, you have a better chance to see them. That’s where they’re coming from anyway, Canada, of course, would have great chance as well here in the Carolinas and in parts of the South, we’re kind of on the edge.
Understanding the Science Behind the Lights:-
So it doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee around here, but we’ll have at least the opportunity to view them and that’s what you’ll want to take advantage of. I thought it might be a nice opportunity to kind of explain what these are in the first place. Why did the northern lights even happen? Well, this might be educational for you.
It sure was for me when I was putting it together. Let’s talk about the earth. Number one. Of course, we all know about our planet but you might not remember all of the details about the earth magnetic field. We have a magnetic field, it’s all related to the poles and it happens as like a bit of a shield on both sides of the earth.
Of course, there’s also the sun, right? That’s what really lights up our world and gives us all of our energy in the first place. Well, in this case, we’re going to talk about the energy that comes out from the sun on any given day. This happens all the time that energy is called the solar wind.
And what that really is is it’s made up of charged particles that come out from the sun and then interact with the earth’s magnetic field. Those could be electrons or protons. If you remember back to chemistry class when you were in high school, those charged particles then reach the shield of that magnetic field and they have to get deflected a little bit, they go around it instead of going through it.
So they actually follow that path and they get directed toward the poles of the earth. So the north pole and the south pole is where a lot of those charged particles end up happening. And that’s the fun part. Once we get to see those coming in around the poles, those electrons are colliding with molecules that already exist in our atmosphere, that might be things like oxygen or nitrogen or other gasses that are out there already.
Color Variations and Their Significance:-
Those collisions. Well, they cause some pretty interesting reactions. So those charged electrons hitting up with oxygen or nitrogen. Well, that causes some colors and that’s what our eyes see as the northern lights in the first place and believe or not, you can kind of tell what’s going on by the different colors here and what level those interactions are happening in the earth’s atmosphere.
If you’re seeing reds, that would be involving oxygen out there and it would be about 200 kilometers way above our heads. The highest levels, if those reds are there, the blues, that would be about 100 to 200 kilometers above the ground involving nitrogen uh reactions. And also oxygen would be those greens that you see about 1 to 200 kilometers up as well.
K Index and Forecast Overview:-
Pinks, they’re the closest to the earth below 100 kilometers in height. So that’s the why about the auroras and that’s what we expect to happen tonight because there’s a lot of solar energy coming our way. And this is how the forecasting gets involved in the whole equation. We measure all that solar energy on a nine point scale. They call it A K index.
All you need to know the bigger the number, the more solar energy, the bigger the geomagnetic storm as they call it come in our way. If it’s zero three, you’re not gonna see anything, especially down here in the Carolinas. In fact, this map over here kind of gives you a guide. We usually have to have a K index of eight or higher around here in our part of the country to get a good view if you live far north.
Of course, all you need is maybe a five and you’ll have a good view of the northern lights. Now, we’ll get to the forecast part for today. The K index has been already at an eight, that’s very high and that’s why the forecasters here are very excited about the potential to see northern lights across a good chunk of the country, including here in the south.
As we go through the night tonight, it might weaken slightly to a seven or a six. That’s why I say once it gets dark, you wanna go ahead and take advantage of getting outside and sneaking a peek at these things. Once we get to Friday night, the expectation at least is that this won’t be as active anymore, maybe a four or a five on the scale.
And at that point, we probably won’t have a chance to see those northern lights anymore. So what might it look like? Well, again, with your naked eye, you might only be able to see a bit of a faint glow but your cameras could capture a little bit more like this. This is from Dwayne Young back in May up in the Stokes County area.
Recap and Viewing Tips:-
You might recognize this. This is the Asheboro Zoo in Randolph County, our very own Jay Capers at News Two taking that photograph back in May. And uh another news too here. Uh Michael Ratti has taken this photo that was up by the Lake Jeanette area in Greensboro. And yes, sometimes if it’s good enough, you can see it with your naked eye.
So we’re pretty excited about the potential here and we’ll see what we can see. So, just to recap for you northern lights, it’s a possibility, not a guarantee, but a possibility for tonight to make sure you have the best chance to do it. You wanna go outside once it gets dark around 730 to 8 o’clock, look toward that northern sky, use the night mode on your camera and it’s also good to kind of give your eyes just a second or two to adjust out there waiting about 15 minutes.
You’re usually able to see more in the darkness. And again, give yourself the best chance to catch a pretty night scene in our triad area. Today, we’ll see what happens.