Meteorologist Helen Roberts told the Manchester Evening News: “It’s all a bit hard to say who will and won’t see it if it happens”. The solar storm that caused the auroras was declared a level G4 (severe), with a maximum possible ranking of G5 (extreme).
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Bookmark the Space Weather Prediction Center to see the latest G-rating. The G scale relates to geomagnetic waves and their effects on GPS and radio systems.
The size and strength of this particular particle ejection were dubbed “impressive” by scientists working on NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer mission as the storm shot by the ACE spacecraft on the way to Earth Sunday afternoon.
When the CME arrives near Earth, it has causes an increased disturbance on our planet’s magnetic field, giving rise to the light show.
An obviously gifted photographer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, Wah Lee captured the Northern Lights perfectly, showcasing this magnificent natural phenomenon to appear to the viewers like one giant musical opera in the nighttime skies. The Weather Service is predicting 35 percent cloud cover in Great Falls Wednesday night. The most current reading is displayed by the bar on the far right.
The sky could be lit up with a flood of wispy colors – a sight which is on many people’s bucket lists.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Space Weather Service operates a subscription service offering information on the best times to see Aurora Australis.
It might be a good idea to keep both of the tools mentioned above open in two separate windows on your computer browser so you can check the conditions often. “It shows you don’t have to go to Norway”. “If you’re near the city area there’s a lot of light pollution”.
That bodes well for aurora watchers in North America, he said. You need to be there at least 30 minutes after sunset, but the darker the skies the better, so make sure you wrap up warm and be patient.
“We don’t get it so brilliantly down here as they do in the north. I’ve only seen it three or four times in my life”, he said.
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