Keep an eye out for the northern lights on Thursday night

There is a possibility that a light show may take place in Canada on Thursday night.

The Sun has released three coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that are headed toward Earth.

CMEs are large ejections of particles from the Sun that travel faster than normal on the solar wind. When those particles reach Earth, they interact with our magnetic field and can create the beautiful northern lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis (or Aurora Australis if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere).

They often occur after a solar flare, where magnetic fields become entangled and then break down, causing an intense burst of radiation that can disrupt high-frequency radio signals to Earth.

“We’ve had three Earth-directed solar storms within the last 24 to 36 hours, one after the other,” said Tamitha Skov, a space weather physicist and professor at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. youtube update,

All three CMEs were released from the same sunspot region, called 4246.

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), a moderate geomagnetic storm is likely to form late on October 16. Greenwich Mean Time, which is four hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Saving Time, and seven hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Saving Time.

This means this could be a problem for those in the West who expect to watch the show.

However, take some solace: It is very difficult to predict exactly when a hurricane may hit. This may happen before or after the forecast.

But the SWPC also said the storm could probably continue through Friday, although it would likely be a weak storm.

Manage expectations

If you’re expecting a show like the ones that happened in May and October 2024, this storm won’t be as strong.

The geomagnetic storm scale goes from G1 to G5, with G5 considered extreme, as we saw with those storms last year. The “Northern” lights were seen in all cities and as far as the Caribbean.

For this storm, the SWPC is predicting a G2, which is considered moderate.

Still, you can increase your chances of catching them by trying to go to a dark-sky location, away from city lights, with a good view of the northern horizon.

But for the Northern Lights to be visible farther south in the latitude where they typically appear, some things have to line up, especially in the far north.

First, CMEs must be Earth-directed, as they appear to be. Second, the solar wind must be very strong. And perhaps most importantly, the auroral hole – along which the particles travel – should be tilted to the south. The further south it goes, the farther south they will appear.

If you want to know if the Aurora Borealis is visible in your location, you can download apps like aurora alert and aurora forecasting.