Alaskans looking to the skies last weekend were treated to a variety of auroras caused by the strongest geomagnetic activity so far in 2016. The auroras may continue tonight after sunset around 10:30 pm.
Omega Smithwith the UAA Planetarium…
Smith: “There’s always going to be activity when the sun’s more active, so a really neat website to go to is spaceweather.com, they can actually detect when solar flares or CMEs come out of the sun and you’ll get a 24-48 hour notice and then you’ll see if aurora shows up, they’ll actually predict when aurora’s happening.”
Spaceweather.com reports that May 8th was the peak of a geomagnetic storm which spurred aurora sightings in in Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Michigan,Montana, Minnesota, and even Arkansas. A research center in Antarctica reported that the glow of the Southern Lights turned everything green.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasters say there is a 65% chance of minor G1-class storms on May 9th as Earth’s magnetic environment returns to normal following the storm.
