Keep An Eye on the Sky

     One thing nice about the days getting shorter and the nights getting longer is the improved chance to see the Northern Lights.  It’s difficult to see them when you’re asleep inside at 10pm and it’s still light out when you go to bed. With recent solar activity I just might be in luck.

SOLAR ACTIVITY: On Sept. 4th around 1600 UT, a magnetic filament erupted, hurling a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) off the sun’s northwestern limb. Today’s edition of

http://spaceweather.com features a close-up view of the blast from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. The CME is not expected to hit Earth. Nevertheless, auroras are possible in the nights ahead. A solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole is heading our way, due to arrive on Sept. 5th or 6th. NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance of high-latitude geomagnetic activity when the solar wind hits. With the approach of northern autumn, Arctic nights are getting dark again–dark enough to see the Northern Lights. People in Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia should keep an eye on the night sky this weekend.