Why Are There So Many Aurora Borealis Displays These Days?
If you haven’t noticed the beautiful sky in your own backyard, you’ve almost certainly seen your friends sharing their images on social media. In recent months, the Aurora Borealis, or Aurora Borealis, has become an almost weekly occurrence. Back in May, Aurora Borealis lit up the sky for nearly a week Straightforward, October, another wave hits Visible to nearly half of the United States. Here’s why the Northern Lights will become so common by 2024, it turns out, and According to NASAthis model will continue until 2025 and possibly until 2026.
space agency Hosted a conference call On October 15, it’s officially announced that the sun is at the peak of its 11-year cycle (also known as solar maximum), and an explanation of what people can expect now.
Read more: Aurora viewer shares stunning photo of Northern Lights
“We are currently in the 11-year solar cycle,” said Elsayed Talaat, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Weather Observations. “During this time, we expect to see more “There are more sunspots, so there’s a higher chance of high-impact weather on any given day.”
In other words, NASA and NOAA expect the sun to produce more sunspots and more coronal mass ejections This happened this yearprobably more like what was seen in May and October, Aurora Borealis reaches for far more than typical.
NASA says this cycle, called Solar Cycle 25, began in December 2019, and the sun has been increasing its activity every year since. Since Solar Cycle 25 is a smaller cycle, NOAA and NASA believe the solar maximum will last longer than normal, meaning auroras last for a while longer for everyone.
During solar maximum, the sun is more active, resulting in more space weather events (such as solar flares), which cause northern auroras.
“Solar Cycle 25 is shaping up to be a relatively small cycle, but slightly larger than Cycle 24,” said Lisa Upton, co-chair of the Solar Cycle 25 Forecast Panel. “This means we can expect the highest phase On the longer side, about three to four years. Currently, we’re about two years in, so we expect we’ll have another year or so before us entering the decline phase.
Expect more solar flares and more auroras
This all happens because the sun goes through an 11-year cycle. These loops culminate with the peaks of solar poles. Imagine if the North and South Poles were flipped on the Earth, This might actually happen one dayyou get a general idea of ​​what’s going on in our nearest star. The transition would cause the sun to become more active, leading to more solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
Once these flares and bounces hit the Earth, they interact with the Earth’s geomagnetic field and cause the spectacular sightlines we know. There’s always a little bit of solar radiation hitting the Earth, so the Northern Lights are always near the North Pole. But when larger solar flares and ejections hit Earth, it has an even greater effect, not only making Aurora Borealis stronger but also moving it further away from the Arctic, making it visible to people in other parts of the world.
So while the Sun is still at its maximum, it will continue to cause more aurora borealis to push southward. It’s unclear whether Earth will experience another geomagnetic storm like it did in May and October, or whether the exact solar maximum will end. NASA and NOAA say it will be months at most before everything is calculated. before that, Get those phones ready Because the Northern Lights could come back anytime or any day in the next one to two years.
