Did you miss the Aurora Borealis last night? Well, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center there is a catch you can catch them tonight.
Possibly even Sunday night as well.
While the auroras are usually only seen from parts of Canada, Scandinavia, and Alaska, due to the massive solar storm occurring at the moment, they are visible in part of continental United States.
According to The Washington Post, “geomagnetic storms occur when the sun sends a punch of charged particles and parts of its magnetic field to Earth, often through eruptions from its surface called coronal mass ejections.”
This specific geomagnetic storm is “severe — rated a Level 5 out of 5.” As The Washington Post, this is a “result of numerous coronal mass ejections earlier this week, some of which are catching up with one another as they hurtle through space.”
As the Space Weather Prediction Center reported, “overnight, aurora were visible across much of the United States,” on May 10. And “weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight.”
Take a look at what some people saw last night:
Beautiful, isn’t it?
Bill Nye “The Science Guy” called the solar storm a “historic space event.” He said it could also cause some issues in our communications, GPS, and power grids.
So tonight, if you find yourself outside away from the city lights, look up, you may just catch a glimpse of the dasseling light show put on in space.