The Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, are part of an astronomical event when the sun's solar winds emit particles that interact with Earth's magnetic field.
The result is a series of brilliant hues of purple, blue and green light curtains that appear over the night sky.
Between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, there's a chance some folks in Michigan might be able to view the Northern Lights.
But even if there aren't the best viewing conditions this week, Michigan State University Abrams Planetarium Director Shannon Schmoll said there's still hope for aurora sightings in the near future.
WKAR's Megan Schellong spoke with Schmoll to learn about what factors need to be in place for Michiganders to see the Northern Lights and when the best time to see them is.
Interview Highlights
On what's happening in the sky when we see the Northern Lights
So, when we do see Northern Lights in our sky, it's an interaction between the sun and the Earth, essentially. So, the sun has solar wind, and it's always sending charged particles out into space. And so, when those interact with the Earth's magnetic field, that can excite particles in our atmosphere, and those excited particles will emit light.
On the factors that need to come together in order to view the Northern Lights in Michigan
So ,generally, we do have fairly constant auroral activity on Earth at the very high latitudes or the polar latitudes, so really close to the North and the South Pole. So, when we have solar flares and solar storms, or something called a coronal mass ejection, that's sending out a lot of material. And so, we get a lot more activity, something a lot stronger, and it pushes what we call the auroral oval farther south, so we can see them farther south.
On the best time to view the Northern Lights
We can't make really strong predictions more than a few days out. And even then it's hard to know for sure if it's really going to be visible. But if there's a possibility of aurora, you want to go outside after midnight. So in the wee hours of the morning, when it is really dark outside, get away from the city lights, as best you can, so you can see the fainter ones. And right now, the sun is, we get more solar storms on an 11-year cycle. And so, we're heading towards solar maximum in the next couple of years. So, we're getting a lot more sunspots, it's a lot more active. So, the chances of these really big storms is increasing. So, hopefully we'll see them a little more often.
Interview Transcript
Megan Schellong: There’s a small chance the Northern Lights could be visible in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula tonight.
I spoke with Shannon Schmoll, the director of the Abrams Planetarium on the Michigan State University campus about the astronomical event.
I started off by asking her what exactly is happening in the sky when we see the Northern lights.
Shannon Schmoll: So, when we do see Northern Lights in our sky, it's an interaction between the sun and the Earth, essentially. So, the sun has solar wind, and it's always sending charged particles out into space. And so, when those interact with the Earth's magnetic field, that can excite particles in our atmosphere, and those excited particles will emit light.
Schellong: It seems like this is a rare event, at least in Michigan. So, what factors need to come together, so that folks in the Lower Peninsula are able to see this?
Schmoll: So ,generally, we do have fairly constant auroral activity on Earth at the very high latitudes or the polar latitudes, so really close to the North and the South Pole. So, when we have solar flares and solar storms, or something called a coronal mass ejection, that's sending out a lot of material. And so, we get a lot more activity, something a lot stronger, and it pushes what we call the auroral oval farther south, so we can see them farther south. It's really strong storms.
Schellong: That is so cool. So, Shannon, when's the best time for us to view the lights here in East Lansing?
Schmoll: That's honestly hard to tell. We can't make really strong predictions more than a few days out. And even then it's hard to know for sure if it's really going to be visible. But if there's a possibility of aurora, you want to go outside after midnight. So in the wee hours of the morning, when it is really dark outside, get away from the city lights, as best you can, so you can see the fainter ones. And right now, the sun is, we get more solar storms on an 11-year cycle. And so, we're heading towards solar maximum in the next couple of years. So, we're getting a lot more sunspots, it's a lot more active. So, the chances of these really big storms is increasing. So, hopefully we'll see them a little more often. But really, we can't know for sure until we see them. And we can't have a decent prediction more than a few days out usually.
Schellong: Do you have a rough estimate for how likely it is folks who are hoping to go outside at midnight tonight will be able to see the lights?
Schmoll: So, I've been checking the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. And right now, there's a very minor storm that might hit Earth. And if it does, it would have Aurora at those polar latitudes. So, it's not likely we're going to see it in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan this week from what I can see, but checking places like NOAA or spaceweather.com, they keep track of all of these things. And they can give about a one to a three-day prediction when we do have these big storms to know if the likelihood is much higher.
Schellong: Okay, so from my understanding, maybe there's not a good likelihood of folks in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan seeing the Northern Lights tonight but because of this 11-year cycle, in which we're coming up on the maximum you referenced, folks can be a little hopeful that hey, maybe there will be more opportunities to see the Northern Lights. Maybe tonight is not one of them. But there should be more to come in the future?
Schmoll: Yes, so the sun is active, and so there's definitely some more hope. It's an interesting thing. I will say, always have to say this: never look at the sun directly without proper eye protection. You have to have proper filters to safely look at the sun. So eclipse glasses, for instance, or a telescope with a special solar filter on it. And so right now, you can see a lot of sunspots. There was actually one we could see with eclipse glasses last week that was visible (to the) naked eye without a telescope. It was really cool. And so, there's a lot of great things coming up. Also, there's an annular eclipse that will be seen as a partial eclipse in October, and our total solar eclipse in April of next year in the U.S. again, so there's a lot of fun sun stuff, even if we don't necessarily see the aurora tonight. There's a lot to come.
Schellong: And Shannon, is there anything else in our night sky that we should be looking out for in particular this summer?
Schmoll: It's always great to go outside and see the night sky. So, even if you're not gonna see the aurora, it's worth going out there and seeing what's out there. We've got Venus and Mars right after sunset. We have all of our summer constellations up right now, and Saturn and Jupiter in the morning sky. So, go out and look up and still marvel at the wonders of the universe.
Schellong: That’s wonderful. Shannon Schmoll is the director of the Abrams Planetarium. Thanks for being here.
Schmoll: Thanks for having me.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.