Solar flares send a stream of particles toward Earth, creating spectacular auroras in both hemispheres.
The aurora borealis – in the northern hemisphere – will possibly be visible in the US as far south as the Midwest on Monday night. The northern lights, which are more commonly associated with northern Europe, can also be seen in the north of the United Kingdom.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the aurora australis can be seen in southern Australia, from Victoria to Western Australia.
The glittering spectacle comes on the same night as a penumbral lunar eclipse, which will be visible around the world.
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology space weather forecast center issued an aurora warning on Monday morning, saying a severe solar storm was underway and the southern lights could be visible.
The storms are caused by coronal mass ejections, when clouds of plasma erupt from the sun’s outer atmosphere. Particles stream toward Earth, creating the spectacular display as they hit Earth’s magnetic field.
In Australia, the storm peaked at 6 on the Kaus index, a scale of one to eight that measures geomagnetic activity, meaning auroras are possible across Tasmania, along Victoria’s coastline and even on Western Australia’s south-west coast will be visible.
Both types of aurora are more commonly seen near the magnetic poles, in northern Canada and off the coast of Antarctica. Magnetic poles float, and are not the same as the geographic poles.
The worse the storm, the further away from the poles the auroras appear.
Severe storms can disrupt power grids and the satellites that provide navigation, surveillance and communications services. They can also pose a radiation risk to astronauts and people in high-flying aircraft.
A spokesperson for the BoM said significant space weather has “the potential to affect technology and critical infrastructure assets on Earth and in the near-Earth space environment”.
The Board advises people hoping to see the aurora australis to find somewhere dark, such as a beach or a hill with an unobstructed view to the south. Dark, moonless, cloudless skies away from city lights are ideal, and the best viewing time is between 10pm and 2am.
Last year there were reports of glittering night skies from Busselton in WA, to Ballarat and Canberra.
Macquarie University astronomer Dr Stuart Ryder said the 11-year solar cycle was likely to peak this year.
“It goes from a relatively benign, calm state with very few sunspots on the surface to a very active phase about five or six years later, with a maximum number of sunspots,” he said.
“They are much more likely to release large flaring energy, enormous amounts of charged particles that radiate from the sun… their characteristic colors are green or red, but people report blue, yellow, even purple.
“The more powerful the flare and the more it sticks out, the greater the chance that people who live more towards the equator will be able to see them.”
The BoM spokesperson said the current cycle started in 2019.
“The original prediction … was that solar maximum for this cycle would be reached in 2025, but recent consensus among space weather researchers is that this cycle is likely to reach earlier, possibly in 2024,” the spokesperson said.
“This implies a higher level of solar activity over the next few years, but significant space weather may also occur at other times in the cycle.”
Meanwhile, at around 7pm tonight in Sydney and 7.30pm in Melbourne, the Earth’s shadow, or penumbra, will dim the moon.
The eclipse will be visible in places including parts of Europe, North and South America, as well as parts of Asia and Africa. The details for people hoping to catch it are published on timeanddate.com.
Ryder said the eclipse will be half over by the time the moon clears the horizon. “Even when that happens, the moon will not pass through the deepest part of Earth’s shadow,” he said. “It will be a full moon, and the upper part may look a little darker because it is deeper in the Earth’s shadow.
“Then the moon will move out of the shadow it’s in and be restored to full brightness… which unfortunately could ruin people’s chances of seeing the aurora.”
