‘Holes’ in Earth’s magnetic field could cause extra northern lights this month. Here’s how to spot them.

By | March 11, 2024
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Northern lights in Whitley Bay, England, April 24, 2023.Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images

  • March 2024 may be the best month of the year to see the Northern Lights, aka the aurora borealis.

  • This is because the Sun is hyperactive and the equinox can create holes in the Earth’s magnetic field.

  • Here’s everything you need to know to spot the northern lights.

This may be the best month, the best year, in two decades to see the Northern Lights, thanks in part to gaps in the Earth’s magnetic field.

Often called the Northern Lights, the aurora borealis are striking bands of shimmering green, pink, purple and red that dance across the Arctic skies.

An image from Riverton's national weather service in Wyoming shows purple and green northern lights glowing behind a spherical structure in the foreground.An image from Riverton's national weather service in Wyoming shows purple and green northern lights glowing behind a spherical structure in the foreground.

The northern lights dance in the sky above Riverton, Wyoming.NWS Riverton

When conditions are right, they can appear as far south as Arizona and even Florida.

If you’re lucky and plan right, you can see the Northern Lights this month. This is all also true of the aurora australis (Southern Lights) in places like Australia and New Zealand.

Why are the sun and holes in our magnetic field forming good auroras now?

The Northern Lights occur when charged particles and magnetic fields flowing out from the sun, called the solar wind, wash over the Earth.

solar windsolar wind

Animation of the solar wind shows particles flowing from the sun towards Earth.NASA

Our planet’s magnetic field directs the solar wind toward the poles, where charged solar particles interact with molecules in the atmosphere to form colorful aurora.

aurora southern lights earth atmosphere international space station issaurora southern lights earth atmosphere international space station iss

Aurora Australis, or southern lights, as seen from the International Space Station.NASA

Both steps of this process are currently being accelerated.

First, the Sun is near the peak of the solar cycle. Powerful explosions from coronal holes in the Sun’s atmosphere, solar flares and solar wind bursts, are becoming more common and sending more wind to our planet.

coronal holecoronal hole

A rotating coronal hole on the face of the Sun funnels the solar wind toward Earth.NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory

Secondly, when these winds reach the Earth, spring and autumn are the best times for them to create a spectacular aurora. Scientists think this is due to the equinoxes.

The equinox occurs when the Earth’s axis is perpendicular to the sun’s rays. This causes a special alignment in which our planet’s magnetic field points in the opposite direction to most of the solar wind’s magnetic fields.

This alignment causes the magnetic fields of the Earth and the Sun to merge. The process, called magnetic reconnection, creates openings in the Earth’s magnetic field that allow the solar wind to transfer energy into our atmosphere, potentially causing more auroras.

spring equinox sunlight earth axis tilt bi chartspring equinox sunlight earth axis tilt bi chart

An example of the spring equinox.Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Matt Owens, professor of space physics at the University of Reading, doesn’t like the analogy, but told Business Insider in an email that “the reconnection process can be very loosely described as opening holes or cracks in the magnetosphere.”

Specifically, March was the month when auroras were most active in a NASA study using 75 years of data. October was a close second, followed by April and then September.

For example, March 2023 witnessed the largest aurora event of that year. By the end of the month, a series of solar events triggered auroras so powerful that they appeared throughout the United States, as far as Phoenix, Arizona.

But it happened so quickly that most people missed it.

How to see and photograph the Aurora?

A heavily dressed man takes photos of the southern lights.A heavily dressed man takes photos of the southern lights.

A photographer takes photos of the aurora australis, also known as the southern lights, on the outskirts of Christchurch, New Zealand.SANKA VIDANAGAMA/AFP via Getty Images

First check: aurora forecast On the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website. If events are happening on the sun, this may change from day to day.

When the northern lights arrive at lower latitudes, including much of the United States, they may be fainter than they appear in photographs in Alaska or Norway.

Instead of…

Stripes of green pink purple northern lights stretch across the night sky above houses and lights of a sprawling townStripes of green pink purple northern lights stretch across the night sky above houses and lights of a sprawling town

The Northern Lights, also called the aurora borealis, dance in the sky over Tromsø, Norway.NTB/Rune Stoltz Bertinussen/Reuters

… you might be looking for something like this:

The lights float above the National Weather Service office.The lights float above the National Weather Service office.

The northern lights were visible above the National Weather Service office in Gaylor, Missouri.NWS Gaylord

So if you live in a city, do your best to leave it. Find a safe place with clear, dark skies, away from city lights.

Prepare for cold weather with blankets and hot drinks. You may have been using your phone or staring at screens to get where you need to go, so be patient and let your eyes adjust to the darkness.

If you can’t leave the city, do your best to avoid light pollution. Head to a nearby nature reserve or to the top of a hill and try to keep city lights out of your eyes.

Look for something colorful and unusual. There are several different types of Aurora.

You can try taking photos of the auroras with a camera, but be careful not to transfer them from a warm environment to a cold environment too quickly to avoid condensation. According to the Royal Photographic Society.

Pre-set your camera before leaving a warmer area so your fingers don’t get too cold; A higher aperture may be better, but if the aurora is moving quickly you may need to adjust your settings. You can find information on how to calibrate SLR cameras Here.

This may be your best chance for another decade

The tornado is shown here on the surface of the sun.The tornado is shown here on the surface of the sun.

A tornado-like filament of plasma appears near the sun’s north pole.SDO/NASA

The Sun may reach solar maximum this year or next year. This happens when our star’s poles flip, causing damage to its magnetic fields and a peak in solar activity.

That’s why we saw this last year: plasma vortex A huge mass rotating like a vortex around the solar pole. coronal “hole”“In our sun and a solar “hurricane” It is the size of 14 Earths.

Nearly ten years have passed since the last solar maximum, and when it is over, the sun’s activity will end and another 11 years will pass until the next one.

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