close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

    • Will Aurora Borealis be visible in Texas? Where you can see the Northern Lights
    news

    Will Aurora Borealis be visible in Texas? Where you can see the Northern Lights

    Vaseline Posted on

    The Northern Lights can be visible to the naked eye in the Northern Panhandle and Amarillo. Cities around Lubbock and Dallas can see the Northern Lights with a good camera in low light.

    play

    Heavenly star lovers, look up: there’s a new chance to see the Aurora Borealis.

    A rare, severe geomagnetic storm is expected to produce auroras, allowing residents in the northernmost parts of Texas to see the spectacle with the naked eye. The aurora may be visible from Thursday evening to early Sunday morning.

    This follows a powerful geomagnetic storm in May – the first to reach magnitude G4 since 2005 – that made the aurora visible across the entire contiguous United States, as far south as Central Texas.

    Why will solar activity increase in 2024?

    As the current solar cycle nears its peak, space forecasters have predicted that residents of the United States can expect an increase in stunning celestial phenomena this coming summer.

    Electromagnetic activity on the sun increases as it approaches the peak of its eleven-year solar cycle, which NASA estimates will peak in 2025. This period, known as solar maximum, brings an increase in the number of sunspots – highly magnetized areas on the Sun. surface of the sun. When these areas release built-up energy, they produce solar flares, which NASA describes as the most powerful explosive events in our solar system, USA TODAY reported.

    Solar flares release radiation in the form of ultraviolet light and X-rays, which travel to Earth at the speed of light. Some of these outbursts are also accompanied by coronal mass ejections, huge plasma clouds and charged particles ejected from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona.

    When coronal mass ejections collide with Earth’s magnetosphere – our planet’s protective magnetic field – they can create geomagnetic storms. These storms can intensify the display of the Northern Lights, creating breathtaking light shows visible in areas far from the poles.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center announced Wednesday that another G4 solar storm is imminent, following a recent solar flare and rapid coronal mass ejection toward Earth. At a speed of 4.5 million kilometers per hour, this is the fastest CME with a fully Earth-centered component measured to date in Solar Cycle 25.

    Where in Texas can you see the Northern Lights?

    This weekend, residents of the northernmost parts of Texas, including Amarillo and cities to the north, may be able to see the Northern Lights with the naked eye. Texans on the South Plains, including Lubbock and surrounding regions, as well as in cities north of Dallas-Fort Worth, should be able to capture the Northern Lights with a good camera in low light.

    Tips for viewing the Northern Lights

    “Go outside at night,” NOAA said. “And get away from the city lights.”

    The best aurora is usually within an hour or two after midnight (between 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM local time). These hours may increase towards the evening and morning as the level of geomagnetic activity increases.

    Contributing: Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY

    Vaseline
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like