Image by: accuweather.com
Astronomers believe that a strong solar flare headed for Earth could ignite the night sky in brilliant Northern Lights tonight.
The astronomers have detected solar flares that are headed towards Earth. When these solar flares impact our planets atmosphere a dazzling light display known as the aurora borealis, or northern lights, will light up the sky.
According to AccuWeather.com Astronomer Hunter Outten, the flare is ranked as an X-class, or the highest class for a solar flare. Along with the brilliant light display that may be visible to some in the northern part of the country, a flare of this magnitude could also have adverse effects on GPS, radio frequencies and cell phone and satellite reception as well.
A coronal mass ejection (CME), or a cloud of charged particles released from solar activity, is expected to induce a geomagnetic storm in Earth’s atmosphere, around midday Friday.
The best viewing will occur around midnight in each respective time zone, but will start being visible after night falls. So find a nice dark place, free of cloud cover, and enjoy the show!
Image by: Atiketta Sangasaeng via Shutterstock