Solar storm expected to bring spectacular northern lights to Prairies
CBC
Christmas lights might not be the only thing lighting up these dark December nights, as a solar storm is expected to bring bright northern lights to the Prairies this weekend.
Auroras borealis is considered among the greatest natural wonders and scientists say it starts with the sun.
"The sun is sort of spewing off protons and electrons as a plasma in all directions, all the time, we call that the solar wind," said Bill Archer, mission manager at the Canadian Space Agency.
"The magnetic field of the earth actually forces the solar wind to deflect around the Earth … so it doesn't run right into the Earth."
He says the Earth's magnetic field acts like an elastic band.
"If you stretch it far enough and it snaps back … that shoots electrons and protons down … into our atmosphere until it hits air that's thick enough that it will collide with it," said Archer.
"When those particles collide with our atmosphere, it lights it up like an old CRT television or perhaps a neon light."
This weekend's aurora will be the result of a geomagnetic storm on the surface of the sun that happened earlier this week.
Despite knowing the source, it's hard to determine when those particles will collide with the Earth's magnetic field, lighting up the night sky.
Frank Florian, senior manager of planetarium and space sciences at Telus World of Science, said right now the prediction is that the stream of material will arrive early Friday morning, but he cautions "this isn't a really precise science."
Florian says auroras might become more common and brighter this winter.
"In an 11-year cycle, the sun actually undulates, it has very active times and very sort of quiet times, and right now we're coming up to this really active time of the sun," said Florian.
"Sometimes these shows can be seen even from urban locations with light because they are so bright and dynamic that you can see them with all the bright city lights."
Florian said the best way to increase your chances of seeing an aurora is from outside the city.
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