Northern Lights may illuminate New York tonight. What to expect (2024)

A moderate geomagnetic storm could allow for viewing of the aurora borealis tonight, following a weekend that saw the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.

A coronal mass ejection watch was issued for Aug. 13 by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center through the first half of the day. As a result, the northern lights could be visible in northern U.S. states from Idaho to New York.

While conditions are expected to peak on Tuesday at moderate levels, severe conditions were reached on Monday morning. The impacts from the peak of the storm include voltage control problems, GPS degradation and satellite operation anomalies.

What is the aurora borealis? How do the northern lights work?

Auroras are ribbons of light that weave across Earth's northern or southern polar regions, according to NASA. Geomagnetic storms that have been triggered by solar activity, such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections like those that occurred this weekend, cause them. The solar wind carries energetic charged particles from these events away from the sun.

These energized particles hit the atmosphere at 45 million mph and are redirected to the poles by the earth's magnetic field,according to Space.com, creating the light show.

During major geomagnetic storms, the auroras expand away from the poles and can be seen over some parts of the United States,according to NOAA.

Coronal mass ejections

Between Aug. 8 to 10 there were five coronal mass ejections which arrived on Earth on Sunday and Monday. Coronal mass ejections are large eruptions of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona.

The ejections come amid one of the highest periods of activity so far in this solar cycle, with 11 sunspot clusters visible on Sunday. The estimated daily sunspot number on Aug. 8 was 337, which would be the highest count since March 2001, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.

The official count for the sunspot number will be reported on Sept. 1; that count is determined by the Solar Influences Data Center at the Royal Observatory in Belgium. The initial daily estimate from the SIDC for Aug. 8 was 295. Subsequent estimations have declined to 245 by Aug. 11.

Sun spots and solar cycles

The sun is in the midst of its latest solar cycle, which occurs approximately every 11 years. So far, sunspot numbers for the current cycle have exceeded estimates, with July almost doubling the expected value.

The sunspot number is calculated using the sum of individual sunspots and 10 times the number of groups. The monthly number of sunspots increases and decreases along a roughly 11-year cycle. Sunspots are dark areas on our star’s surface caused by intense magnetic flux.

While no longer at peak this evening, the Perseid meteor shower is still underway and anyone with sufficiently dark skies should have the opportunity to see the display. At peak, meteors can be seen at a rate of 100 per hour.

More: Perseids meteor shower peaks this weekend. Here's the best time to see

What is a meteor shower?

Meteors are rock and ice debris ejected from comets and asteroids in orbit around the sun which burn up in earth’s upper atmosphere, giving off streaks of light colloquially known as shooting stars. Meteor showers happen at regular intervals because comets orbit the sun, though in a highly elliptical pattern as opposed to the rounder orbit of planets. Each time the orbit of a comet or asteroid and the earth cross, the planet is hit by debris, the vast majority of which never reaches the ground.

The comet responsible for the Perseid meteor shower is Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862 and has a center 16 miles across.

Meteor showers are named for the constellation closest to the point they appear to originate from in the night sky, such as Perseus for the Perseids and Gemini for the Geminids.

This story includes reporting by USA Today reporter Doyle Rice.

—Steve Howecovers weather, climate and lake issues for the Democrat and Chronicle. An RIT graduate, he returned to Rochester after working around the state and in Utah. See anything interesting in the night sky? Tell him at showe@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Northern Lights may illuminate New York tonight. What to expect