The Sun's Fireworks, Why the Northern Lights Are Everywhere Right Now

Over the past year or two, something genuinely remarkable has been happening high up in the night sky. The aurora, that shimmering curtain of colored light long associated almost entirely with the frozen far north, has suddenly been appearing in places it very rarely visits. People living in surprisingly southern regions have looked up to find the heavens quietly glowing green and pink, often to their complete and utter astonishment.

This sudden abundance of celestial fireworks is certainly no mere coincidence, nor is it some passing fluke of the weather here on Earth. The true underlying cause lies an almost unimaginable distance away, on the constantly roiling surface of our own Sun. In this piece, we explore the science behind the aurora, uncover exactly why the displays have grown so frequent and so widespread, and consider how you might just catch a glimpse of one yourself.

A cosmic light show

To really understand the recent surge, it first helps a great deal to know what an aurora actually is in the first place. These glowing displays are born whenever a fast stream of tiny charged particles, flung far outward by the Sun, comes racing headlong toward our planet. When those particles finally collide with the thin gases high up in our atmosphere, they cause them to glow softly, much like the gas sealed inside a bright neon sign.

Our own planet's magnetic field also plays a genuinely crucial role in the whole spectacle. It carefully funnels these incoming particles down toward the north and south magnetic poles, which is precisely why the lights are so traditionally seen only at high latitudes. The particular colors we happen to witness, ranging from vivid green to deep red and purple, depend entirely on which gases are struck and at exactly what altitude each collision occurs.

The Sun's eleven-year heartbeat

The real key to this whole mystery is that the Sun is actually very far from constant. Our star faithfully follows a steady rhythm of activity that repeats itself roughly every eleven years or so, a kind of slow and stately cosmic heartbeat. Over the course of each full cycle, the Sun swings gradually from a long period of relative calm all the way to one of intense turbulence, before slowly settling back down once again.

Scientists carefully track this rhythm largely by counting sunspots, the dark, slightly cooler blemishes that regularly dot the Sun's otherwise brilliant surface. During the quiet phase, which is known to astronomers as solar minimum, these spots are notably few and far between. As the cycle steadily builds toward its peak, however, their numbers climb higher and higher, clearly signaling that our star is growing ever more restless and active.

What happens at solar maximum

The dramatic high point of this entire cycle is known as solar maximum, and it is exactly the phase that we have very recently been passing through. At this fiery peak, the Sun's tangled magnetic field becomes wildly unstable and chaotic. Sunspots begin to cluster thickly right across its glowing face, and the star starts hurling out vast clouds of charged particles into surrounding space with far greater frequency than before.

Whenever one of these enormous eruptions happens to be aimed directly toward Earth, the eventual result can be a powerful geomagnetic storm. As that huge surge of solar material slams hard into our planet's protective magnetic field, it dramatically supercharges the aurora, making the displays brighter, far more active, and visible across a much wider stretch of the whole globe than usual. This is exactly why so very many people have been treated to the show lately.

A remarkably powerful peak

What has made this current period so especially memorable is quite simply just how strong this particular peak has ultimately turned out to be. Forecasters had initially expected a fairly modest and unremarkable maximum, very much in keeping with several of the more recent cycles. Instead, the Sun has been considerably more energetic than anyone predicted, now ranking proudly among the most active cycles seen in many long decades.

There has also been a rather pleasant surprise hidden in the timing of it all. Rather than delivering a single sharp peak followed by a swift and sudden decline, this maximum has instead stretched out into a prolonged and generous plateau of high activity. That happily means the elevated chances of catching an aurora are widely expected to linger for a good while yet, before the Sun eventually begins its long, slow march back toward calm.

How to catch the show

For anyone genuinely hoping to witness this rare spectacle firsthand, a little bit of careful preparation really does go a very long way indeed. The single most important ingredient of all is simply darkness, so escaping the orange glow of the city lights and finding a quiet spot with a clear open view toward the northern horizon is absolutely essential. A cloudless night, quite naturally, is every bit as important as a properly dark one.

It also helps enormously to keep a close eye on the various aurora forecasts, which try to predict when geomagnetic activity is most likely to spike. When a strong solar storm is finally on its way, it really pays to stay up late and to be patient, as the lights can come and go quite suddenly. With clear skies, a nice dark location, and just a little bit of luck, you may very well catch one of nature's most breathtaking performances for yourself.