About - Northern Lights

Some impressive forecasting tools do the brunt of the work, but aurora watchers will get more out of the resources if they have a basic understanding of aurora science. I’m a scientist by training so naturally I get caught up in all the facts and nerdy science. But all the science-speak and technical terms can get a bit convoluted. The science is also just one aspect of the northern lights experience. 

The northern lights are all about the sun. Huge eruptions on the sun – solar flares – generate massive amounts of energy that are hurled into space. These bursts of solar wind stream toward Earth, and our planet’s magnetic field manages to deflect most of this solar dust away from us. But some of the electromagnetic particles from these powerful flares get through and are trapped in an oval-shaped band around the magnetic poles. When these energetic particles collide with atoms in Earth’s high altitude atmosphere, it results in a colorful chemical reaction around the magnetic poles that we see as auroral light in the sky.

The charged particles concentrate in a ring around Earth’s geomagnetic poles, and this oval band constantly expands and contracts. The northern lights appear in regions that are located beneath or near the edge of this oval. A major geomagnetic event – and a resulting expansion of the auroral oval –can give more southerly regions a rare view of the aurora. 

The sun’s activity follows a solar cycle that intensifies about every 11 years. The solar maximum is measured by the number of visible sunspots, which release solar flares and energy into space and result in increased aurora activity. Activity is greater during the solar maximum, but even when there is no geomagnetic storm you can still see the aurora on most clear nights if you are under the auroral oval.