Northern Lights

[HoosierHiker1202]

Anyone able to speak to how frequently the lights can be seen from the Isle in summer? I’m heading over for a week in June 2020 and was just wondering how realistic it would be to hope for a glimpse.

[Midwest Ed]

In all depends on what mood the Sun is in. The Northern Lights are caused when highly ionized (electrically charged) particles that are ejected by the Sun interact with the Earth's magnetic field. There are several different factors that contribute to your chances. First there needs to be an ejection (called a coronal mass ejection or CME) by the Sun and it has to be pointed in the correct direction. They can shoot out in any direction but the Earth has to pass through what's called the Solar Wind at just the right time. This wind takes about 2.5 days to reach the distance of Earth's orbit, but of course the Earth may not be located for it to be hit by any of that energy. The ejections vary greatly in their energy level and time duration as well. The higher the energy, the lower in latitude can the effects be seen. Also, this solar ejection activity has an ebb and flow to it. It has a cycle with a peak and minimum about every 11 years. Right now we are in the lowest period about to come out into a rising period. Another factor is time of year since the sunlight of long summer days tends to drown out the visible effects. June unfortunately has the longest hours of sunlight.

Even so, there was recently some excellent viewing right in Copper Harbor this past week. Makes me wonder if anyone recorded this event from The Island.

There are several websites that keep track of the Solar activity, the location and direction of the CME and the projected position of the Earth. Follow one of these and you can get a few days notice of probable viewing.
Space Weather
Aurora Hunter
NOAA Prediction Center

[HoosierHiker1202]

That’s helpful info. Thanks. I’ll definitely check out a couple of those sights.