How to watch the northern lights across far northern US tonight [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

By Stephanie Pappas - Live Science Contributor an hour ago



The northern lights glow green and purple above Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
(Image: © Shutterstock)

A small northern slice of the United States could get a rare glimpse of the northern lights on Thursday (Dec. 10) night.

A geomagnetic storm may cause the lights, or aurora borealis, to dip more southward than usual, according to Space Weather Watch. Earlier this week, there was hope that the northern lights might dip well into the United States, with aurora visible as far south as New England and Chicago, but now it appears that the best views will be within Canada and perhaps around the U.S-Canada border.

The aurora borealis (and their cousins in the Southern Hemisphere, the aurora australis) are caused by the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that emanates from the sun and interacts with Earth's upper atmosphere.These charged particles excite oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere. As the molecules return to their regular state, they emit particles of light called photons. These photons create the ghostly, dancing colors that make up the aurora.

Typically, the lights appear only near the poles. But when the geomagnetic disturbance to the atmosphere is particularly strong, they can appear at lower latitudes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintains a 30- to 90-minute forecast of the aurora, providing the most up-to-date predictions of who might be able to view the phenomenon.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/watch-northern-lights-us-december-2020.html