In the next two years, the northern lights can be seen in unusual places, as far as Arizona

In the past few months, the number of sightings of the northern lights has increased in areas further south than usual. This will continue until 2025. The edition told in more detail The New York Times.

Photo: IStock

The northern lights are most often seen in the northernmost regions of the Earth, but in recent months residents of more southern regions have begun to see them. Scientists say this is not a fluke, but part of a trend that will allow a wider part of the world to see the phenomenon over the next few years.

The lights will be visible further south due to the shift in the Sun's magnetic fields, which change their 11-year cycle. This phenomenon will peak in 2025, during a phase known as solar maximum.

According to Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium at the University of Michigan, the expansion of aurora visibility created by the activity of the Sun's magnetic field has already begun.

What is northern lights

The aurora borealis occurs when the solar wind or charged particles from the sun interact with the Earth's magnetic field to excite the atoms in the atmosphere.

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Schmoll explained that the electrons move to a higher energy level and emit light, visible as a radiance, when they come back.

Oxygen in the atmosphere creates green or red light during aurora, while nitrogen causes blue.

Auroras are usually best seen in places like the Scandinavian countries and Northern Canada. Every winter, tourists from all over the world flock to Arctic locations to head out into the snowy night and see the phenomenon.

Northern lights spread further south

Over the past few months in the Northern Hemisphere, the number of sightings of the northern lights has increased in more southern areas.

One cold Sunday night in February, the skies of southern England and Ireland lit up with radiance. In March, powerful geomagnetic storms helped make them visible across the US south as far north as North Carolina and New York. In April, they were spotted in Arizona, central California, southern Ontario and England.

In the southern hemisphere, the aurora is usually visible from Antarctica, Australia, and southern Argentina.

Scientists are interested in the auroras not only because of the beautiful spectacle, but also because extreme geomagnetic storms that can create the aurora can damage electrical networks, said Taylor Cameron, a researcher at the Canadian Hazard Information Service.

The last major outage of its kind occurred in 1989, leaving six million people in Quebec without power.

Why are the northern lights more common now?

Since the Sun's magnetic fields change over 11 years, this cycle consists of phases between solar minimum and solar maximum, Dr. Cameron said. Experts predict that the solar maximum will be reached in 2025, meaning the aurora oval, or area on Earth where the lights are visible, is able to expand until then.

"When we're at the minimum part of the solar cycle, the sun is very quiet, there's not much going on," Dr Cameron explained. “And at maximum we will have a lot of solar flares, a lot of coronal mass ejections.” The sun is just much more active.”

According to him, the current cycle began in 2019. The solar cycle is related to the Sun's magnetic field, but does not affect its temperature. Unlike the solar 11-year cycle, the Earth's magnetic field changes direction every tens of thousands of years.

Earth's northern and southern hemispheres reach solar maximum at different times, said Alex Young, associate director of science in NASA's Heliophysics Science Division.

Space weather simulations, which include both real data and computer models that recreate space physics, allow scientists to better understand the aurora borealis, Dr. Yang says.

When and Where to Expect to See the Northern Lights

The best time of the year to see the northern lights is spring and autumn.

“This is the time when the equator is completely aligned with the plane of rotation of the Sun,” said William Archer, a researcher at the Canadian Space Agency.

According to Dr. Archer, solar-terrestrial events are measured by the Kp index, which is a scale from zero to nine. The higher the number, the more active the northern lights.

The aurora borealis hit an index of 8 last month. To view in the central US, Kp must reach 7 or higher. Darker areas away from city lights have the best visibility.

Traveling to see the northern lights often involves searching for the perfect view, says Amy Hope, managing director of Aurora Zone, a travel company based in the UK.

In the past, solar maximum has attracted the attention of travelers, she said. Even during solar maximum, tour groups will hunt for the best views.

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"What's so exciting about it is that it's different every time," Hope said.

How to track the northern lights

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is short-term forecast of the location and intensity of auroras.

Experts recommend using spaceweather.com и SpaceWeatherLive.com as a resource for finding auroras; AuroraMAX shows the aurora live during the winter months.

Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks provides forecasts for Northern Lights locations in North America, Europe, and the Southern Hemisphere.

Communities have been formed on Facebook for people in common auroral spots to discuss predictions and suggest vantage points. Similar websites exist in many countries, including To Canada и Iceland.

“For many people, the northern lights are a beautiful nighttime phenomenon worth traveling to the Arctic regions to see,” it says. website of the Center for Space Weather Prediction (NOAA).

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