If You're In Northern Parts Of The USA Tonight, DO Look Up. You Might See Pretty Sun Farts!
Or Northern Lights, whatevs.
If you’re in the northern parts of the USA, especially the Midwest, or almost anywhere in the Canada, you might get a glimpse of the fabled “Northern Lights” tonight, thanks to a bunch of magnetic eruptions on the Sun that have been sending particles toward the Earth.
Most commonly seen in the Arctic, the Aurora Borealis occurs shortly after the Sun farts out clouds of plasma in what’s called a “coronal mass ejection” (no, it’s definitely ejection, you there snickering in in the back) and streams of charged particles crash into Earth’s magnetic field. When the sun storms are especially severe, the aurora becomes more visible farther away from Earth’s magnetic poles.
Sez the Detroit Free Press:
A geomagnetic storm began Saturday and continued into Sunday, creating potential viewing conditions for the aurora borealis. The storm registered moderate at level G2 Saturday before increasing to a severe level G4 storm Sunday afternoon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center.
The storm was prompted by a coronal mass ejection from the sun Friday evening, reaching the Earth early Sunday.
The massive Space Farts have the potential to disrupt power networks and satellites, so that’s one more thing to worry about, but maybe not, probably not, one can hope.
Nothing’s guaranteed, but the best viewing times, per NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, tend to be between 10 PM and 2 AM local time (not adjusted like a TV schedule, what with the world turning and all), and looking north away from city lights. The flatter the terrain toward the horizon, the better your chances of seeing something.
How far south will the aurora be visible tonight? We’ve seen two different projections. The first is from NOAA, and they oughta know, placing the most likely southern “view line” on a curve that includes most of Washington, Montana, the Dakotas, Illinois, and Michigan, plus bits of northern Idaho, New York, Maine, and those two states no one remembers unless they’re there.
This second one, from the Fox affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina, is a lot more expansive / optimistic, placing the outer edges of the maybe-you-can-see something line farther south, including a much bigger slice of the northern half of the country but adding it’ll be very low on the horizon if you see anything at all.
And here’s some video from Fox Weather, which we assume blames the Sun Farts on Joe Biden. We like the very calm, all-red preview image.
As that TV station in South Carolina adds, if you don’t see any aurora stuff tonight, just wait, because the maximum for the current solar cycle is coming in 2025, neato!
Jaw amongst yourselves, it is an OPEN THREAD!
[NOAA viewing tips / NOAA Aurora forecast / Detroit Free Press / Guardian / Fox Carolina]
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Conversation with the five year old I babysit while riding the bus.
Kid: Did you play games when you were a kid? (referencing games played on a phone or tablet)
Me: Yes but we didn't play them on phones. We didn't have phones like this. (holding up my phone)
Kid: (VERY LOUDLY) That's cause you're 60!
Giggles from some of the adults around me.
Me: Well announce it to everyone on the bus, why don't ya?
Kid: (EVEN LOUDER) I am five and you're sixty!
Giggles turn into laughter from my fellow commuters.
I was laughing too. Glad we brightened their day!
As with Calvin's advocacy for "Horrendous Space Kablooie" as a more engaging term than "Big Bang," we would like to call for "massive sun farts" to replace "coronal mass ejections."