If you missed the display of northern lights last week, good news: you get another chance Monday and possibly Wednesday.
You can’t tell, but right now Earth is being pummelled with solar particles that are streaming down (or up) our magnetic poles. We see this interaction between the particles and our magnetosphere as the northern lights.
IN PHOTOS: Northern lights put on a show
Really, solar particles are constantly bombarding Earth, but sometimes a solar flare, coronal mass ejection or coronal hole will carry a fast-moving stream outward.
The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) out of the United States is reporting that we’re experiencing a minor geomagnetic storm. The Kp index, which measures geomagnetic activity on a scale of 0 to 10, was at Kp 5 Monday afternoon. Typically a Kp of about 5 or higher can produce a northern lights display in dark skies as far south as southern Ontario. Any higher than that and it’s pretty much a definite — so long as you have clear skies, of course.
Another thing that has to be in place in order to get a great display of northern lights is that the auroral hole (think big donut over the north pole) has to tip south, as that’s the “line” where the aurora will be travelling along. As of Monday afternoon, the hole was south.
READ MORE: Why do we get the northern lights?
The SWPC is also calling for an increased chance of northern lights on Wednesday when a high-speed stream of particles could reach Earth. The particles originate from a coronal hole — an area of weakened magnetic field on the sun — that is facing Earth.
So keep your fingers crossed that conditions remain good for tonight.
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