A Tennessee Tech physics professor says the Northern Lights could be visible Wednesday night, as an overactive sun leads to the lights glowing brighter.
Physics Department Chair Steve Robinson said the Northern Lights are caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field. That traps the particles and funnels them into our atmosphere where they interact with oxygen. Robinson said this chemical reaction produces light and colors.
“What happened a few days ago was that one of these areas of instability actually resulted in essentially an explosion on the surface of the Sun that pushed a lot of very energetic material out into space,” Robinson said. “And it just happened to be directed toward us here on Earth.”
Robinson said the Sun cycles between activity and inactivity every 11 years. Robinson said the sun is in an active period, resulting in sunspots and instability on the surface. Robinson said the sun’s hyper-activity has resulted in a higher frequency of Northern Light sightings.
“You have to have a very intense stream of particles coming from the Sun,” Robinson said. “And just over the last few days there have been three of these significant, what they call coronal mass ejections, or a lot of material being ejected from the Sun.”
Robinson said people can utilize the night mode on smart phone cameras to see the lights better, as some locations could find the lights difficult to see. Robinson said point the camera north to get a better view.
Robinson said all three events were directed toward the Earth, enhancing the effects of the lights. Robinson said this event is rare, as we are at a maximum in solar activity at this moment.
“If you were to live much further North, in Northern Canada or Alaska, you’d see them many many times during the year,” Robinson said. “But down here, they very rarely make it this far so, to see something this rare I think is exciting.”
Robinson said people can utilize the night mode on smart phone cameras to see the lights better, as some locations could find the lights difficult to see. Robinson said point the camera North to get a good view.
