How To View The Aurora: Northern Lights Could Put On A Show In North America Tonight

Stargazers usually have to wait until August for the Perseids for a summer viewing party, but the sun is giving North America an early present. The sun's been pretty active recently and unleashed a coronal mass ejection (CME) Monday. This stream of plasma and charged particles will hit Earth Wednesday around 7 p.m. EDT, which means the aurora will be active across North America.

Viewing the aurora is easy enough and requires a dark night sky. Try to get away from the city lights and look for colorful streaks of light. Sky & Telescope and SpaceWeather.com have good primers for viewing the Northern Lights. If Wednesday's CME is as strong as Tuesday's, we could get aurora as far south as Texas. There is an 80 percent chance of a G4 geomagnetic storm and -- pending weather and lights -- could extend aurora to states like California, New Mexico, Arizona, Georgian and Arkansas, according to SpaceWeather.com. The Sky and Telescope team were able to capture great images of the aurora from Boston and off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

On Monday, an M-class solar flare erupted from the sun. Solar flares are distinguished by classes: an M-flare is a medium eruption, while an X-flare is the most powerful type of eruption. Each number represents its relative intensity to the weakest flare. Monday's eruption was an M6.5 flare, which is 6.5 times more powerful than an M1 flare. Sometimes a filament associated with the solar flare escapes from the sun's atmosphere. Known as a CME, this ball of plasma travels through space and -- depending on its strength -- could wreak havoc if it hits Earth.

CMEs interact with Earth's magnetosphere, which could lead to radio blackouts, satellite and communication disruptions, geomagnetic storms and intense aurora. The plasma has its own charge which interacts with Earth's magnetic field, and a grazing blow would only lead to minor radio blackouts or intense Northern Lights. Monday's CME caused further geomagnetic storms, as Earth was hit with plasma associated with a solar flare that erupted Sunday.

The overnight geomagnetic storms were classified as G4 (Severe) and could lead to widespread voltage contol problems as well as orientation and tracking issues with spacecraft. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has not identified any problems associated with the storms but did note there could be some spectacular aurora displays across North America.

"The coronal mass ejection that erupted June 22 in conjunction with the R2 solar flare has been modeled, and arrival is expected June 24 at 23:00 UT (7 p.m. EDT). This timing bodes well for aurora watchers in North America," the Space Weather Prediction Center said in a statement.