Tri-state area gets another shot at seeing the Northern Lights this Thursday and Friday

Another coronal mass ejection is heading toward Earth and will arrive sometime Thursday afternoon.

Michele Powers

Oct 10, 2024, 2:00 AM

Updated 25 days ago

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There’s another chance to see the northern lights again on Thursday or Friday night!
Another coronal mass ejection is heading toward Earth and will arrive sometime Thursday afternoon.
We won’t know exactly how intense or bright any resulting aurora may be just yet.
The Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch for a G4, which is classified as severe and is one level stronger than the last one issued earlier this week.
These types of CMEs can create issues with satellites, radio signals, the power grid and even our own GPS.
Destructive as they might be, a lot of the time, they also end up in beautiful and colorful light displays in our nighttime sky.
Below is a coronograph from the SOHO – Solar and Heliospheric Observatory of the CME coming off the sun.
Also in the picture, or more like a photobomb, is a comet that we may be able to see over the weekend.
Right now, it’s traveling behind the sun.
Its closest approach to Earth will be on Oct. 12.
The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) says it will know more about the CME’s strength and what it will do when it hits Earth by tomorrow, as it passes by the SOHO spacecraft, which is 1 million miles from Earth.
That’s why the lead time with the aurora displays is often short notice.
We had some luck earlier in the week as seen in viewer photos shared with us here at News 12.
This time it could be stronger, and the aurora may be seen farther south. What helps is using your phone’s camera and setting it on the longest exposure possible. This is how so many are able to see the northern lights at lower latitudes. Of course you’ll need a very dark sky to view it, away from city and even local lights.
The sun continues to be very active and there will likely be more CMEs. The SPWC also said we sometimes see stronger storms just after the solar cycle peaks and this may be the period we are currently in.