![]() In most cases, when the aurora is active, there will be an ongoing green hue to the sky, with soft-edged shifting shapes that may or may not be visible all the time with the naked eye. The NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction website also has a great description of sunspots, among other things. If you want to dig deeper into the technicalities of solar storms, I would highly recommend this solar storm FAQ on the NASA website. Sunspots can last a long time on the sun’s surface, and with the sun revolving on its axis every 27-28 days, we can predict activity caused by the sun’s current most giant sunspots nearly 27 days in advance.Ī good aurora app or forecasting service will keep track of this predicted activity and notify you when things are about to get good! Still, once those events occur on the sun, we can partially predict auroral activity in the Earth’s atmosphere a few days later.Īside from these dramatic solar flares and CMEs, sunspots also act like hoses that spray energy towards the Earth in a constant solar wind, often with enough strength to cause aurora at higher latitudes. It’s impossible to forecast a solar flare or a CME. I took this photo in the Yukon a couple of nights after a huge CME event.Īfter these eruptive solar events, the CME will sweep past the Earth between 1 and 3 days later, causing strong auroral activity. As these charged particles smash into the oxygen and nitrogen that makes up most of our atmosphere, it creates magical colours in the sky. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun (CMEs) send electrons and protons shooting away from the sun at speeds above 3million mp/h, causing what is known as a geomagnetic storm when it reaches the Earth. Whilst there is no way to forecast how the colours and shapes will form in the sky, you can, with reasonable certainty, predict when and where the lights will be visible. No matter how many times you venture out and are lucky enough to catch the lights, it’ll look a little different. If you’ve studied a lot of photos of the northern lights, then you have probably come to understand that on any given night during a solar storm, the shapes, colours and overall look of an auroral display can vary dramatically. How Can The Aurora Borealis Be Forecasted?īefore we talk about the aurora forecast apps that I tested, I think everyone would benefit from a bit of knowledge. Note: I will most likely use the terms aurora, aurora borealis and northern lights interchangeably in this article. ![]() ![]() In this post, we’ll look at all of the most popular ones that I have been testing, and I’ll make my recommendations for the best. Still, you can make life a little easier by using a good aurora forecast app and a notification system that will alert you to potential upcoming solar storms. Aurora photography is a tricky subject to pursue.
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