Northern lights

On Wednesday, geomagnetic activity picked up over the continental United States, and the greens, pinks, and reds of the aurora borealis were seen as far south ...

You can also head to the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to see an animated version of its aurora forecast placed over a map of the Earth. If your location is within range on either of these maps, simply go outside to the darkest place you can find tonight and look up to the north. "Weather permitting, highly active auroral displays will be visible overhead from Inuvik, Yellowknife, Rankin and Iqaluit to Vancouver, Helena, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Bay City, Toronto, Montpelier, and Charlottetown, and visible low on the horizon from Salem, Boise, Cheyenne, Lincoln, Indianapolis and Annapolis," writes the University of Alaska Fairbanks in its forecast, which also includes a map of where the aurora should be visible. Tonight, you might have a chance to see the northern lights in the U.S. The University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute, which issues aurora forecasts, predicts a spectacular show in the night sky.

Bob McDonald's blog: This week, an enormous blob of plasma shot out from the sun like a tornado out of a thunderstorm, resulting in a beautiful light show ...

Aurora are a permanent feature of the Earth as well as other planets with magnetic fields, such as Jupiter and Saturn. They form glowing rings around the poles like jewelled crowns. The lights seem to reach all the way to the ground but in fact, all the activity happens about 100 kilometres up. Instead, they follow the magnetic field towards the north and south poles, where they interact with the atmosphere giving us the spectacular celestial light show of the Northern lights, or Aurora Borealis in the northern hemisphere and Aurora Australis in the south. This generated electrical surges in power lines on the ground that shorted out the entire power grid of Quebec and parts of the northeastern US. Since then, electric utilities have hardened their systems to try to prevent similar blackouts in the future. The beautiful auroras are a visual reminder that the sun showers our planet with more than just light and heat. But the glowing ball we see crossing our skies every day is only the visible part of the sun.

The aurora borealis northern lights may be visible from the New York City area this Friday or Saturday, and here's how to potentially see it.

Not only did The Gothamist post about it, but so did the New York Post, Travel and Leisure, NYTimes, and USA Today — but the chances of truly seeing it? It is rare for aurora [borealis] to be visible in New York City, [but] in this case, it may be possible.” Even when you travel to the Arctic, these colorful waves of light are elusive and difficult given the weather and night, never promised, so it’s a toss-up regardless of region.

Will sapphire blue and electric green light swirl over the U.S. Bank Tower and the rest of the downtown L.A. skyline tonight? A prominent Instagram account, ...

“I can say with authority that we have no such livestream planned,” Mark Pine, deputy director of Griffith Observatory, wrote via email. This, of course, isn’t in the works. “This entire article is an April Fools’ joke.

A viral social media post left some Angelenos checking outside the window to see if gullible was written in the sky on April Fools.

Elsewhere in the United States, other states were treated to northern lights sightings on Wednesday night. And, get breaking news alerts in the FOX 11 News app. Sign up for FOX 11’s Fast 5 newsletter.

Social media posts are circulating saying that the northern lights, or aurora borealis, will be visible in LA. It's not true—and in fact, it's an April ...

WATERVILLE, Wash. — A pair of solar flares that combined to strike Earth Wednesday afternoon didn't disappoint when it came to putting on a show...

This is a modal window. This is a modal window. The first solar flare left the sun late Monday morning, and a second flare erupted about 8 hours later.

A rare sighting of the aurora borealis this week in Wyoming has stirred up some excitement for stargazers. But if you missed the Northern lights Wednesday night ...

So, there’s no guarantee, but I would say that the chances of them occurring again in Wyoming Friday night, there’s a fairly good chance.” “And the pictures you’re getting are people using their cameras, these digital cameras with long exposures to be able to bring out all the colors in them – but I do know that the folks that saw them up in the northern part of the state did say they could see them with the naked eye.” “In the high latitudes, especially when you get up about 60 degrees north latitude, these happen all winter, pretty much almost every night, because that part of the globe is most sensitive to these fields.” “In the last year and a half, we have gone into our new solar cycle,” Day said. “You’ve got to be patient, and to really see these you’ve got to be in a really dark environment,” he noted. “This is a totally natural phenomenon that comes and goes in terms of strength and intensity throughout the course of the year, but also is directly related to solar activity,” he told Cowboy State Daily.