MI May See Northern Lights More Often During ‘Solar Maximum’
MICHIGAN — If you've missed seeing the multicolored aurora when it dipped far south of its Arctic range into Michigan in recent months, there should be more chances to see the northern lights in the coming months as the sun reaches its "solar maximum" stage.
Solar maximum is the period of peak solar activity during the sun's 11-year solar cycle. Solar Cycle 25 is predicted to peak between November March 2026, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
That means more powerful solar storms that ultimately create the ethereal curtains of pink, purple, green and yellow light that have delighted people as far south as Florida and the Southwest this year. That was the case in May, when a powerful solar storm prompted NOAA to issue a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning . The aurora was seen around the world , including in Michigan.
The northern lights have been seen in multiple U.S. locations in the last couple of weeks. The Space Weather Prediction Center's aurora dashboard is a good site to bookmark for aurora chasers. In general, the best times to see the northern lights are within an hour or two of midnight.
Michiganders in the Upper Peninsula caught a glimpse of the northern lights earlier this week. The best place to see the lights are in Michigan's dark sky parks, which are: Headlands International , in Mackinaw City; Keweenaw in Cooper Harbor and Dr. T.K. Lawless in Jones.
The approaching peak of solar maximum almost certainly means more frequent and intense flares will be spewed from the sun's hot, hot outer atmosphere, according to space weather forecasters.
Geomagnetic storms like the one promoting NOAA's rare warning in May start with the explosions, or solar flares, of superheated gasses that can be as powerful as a billion hydrogen bombs .
When this happens, the electron- and proton-charged magnetic ps hurtling toward our planet in a coronal mass ejection, or CME, can temporarily disrupt Earth's magnetic fields, sending the oval aurora south of its Arctic home, but also potentially disrupting satellite systems and GPS and radio communications.
An 'Internet Apocalypse' Is Possible
As solar activity ramps up, scientists at George Mason University have warned of the potential for an " internet apocalypse " in which electronic communications suddenly and with little or no warning stop working.
Collaborating with peers at the Naval Research Laboratory under a $13.6 million Department of the Navy grant, scientists are trying to learn more about the effects of violent and more frequent solar storms 93 million miles from Earth on internet and satellite communications.
The implications of solar activity strong enough to knock out satellite communications could be profound, from disrupting military operations and energy grids to complicating life for millions of Americans who use smart-home technology, rely on GPS to guide them from Point A to Point B, and go online to conduct business, order essential medications and shop for everything they eat and wear.
The internet came of age during a relatively quiet period of solar activity, but violent storms predicted to increase over the next decade could test its backbone.
"The internet was simply not designed to handle this level of communication interference, and, consequently, is considered a very 'soft' type of infrastructure," principal investigator Peter A. Becker, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy within the university's College of Science, said in a news release.
During solar maximum, "the entire internet could conceivably be knocked out for a period of weeks to months in the event of a really extreme solar flare," Becker said.
Because of the world's heavy dependence on the internet for information, communications and global commerce, such a scenario would be "an unprecedented disaster for modern society," Becker said.
The G5-level geomagnetic storm in May disrupted GPS systems in some tractors, delaying spring planting until equipment manufacturers could deploy a fix.
