The northern lights may return to our skies in June. Active solar region AR3664, responsible for the powerful magnetic storm in early May, will soon be heading toward Earth again. More importantly, the moon will also help us in observations.
On May 9, the Sun unleashed a series of powerful flares accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), huge clouds of magnetized plasma. Its main source was the Earth-facing solar region AR3664. Thanks to its activity, between May 10 and 12, the sky over Poland was illuminated by the northern lights, and the northern lights were visible even relatively close to the equator.
The Sun completes one revolution on its axis in 27 Earth days, which means that AR3664 has disappeared from our sight for some time. However, that doesn’t mean it was lazy – on May 20, it emitted the most powerful X12-class flare to date, observed by the Solar Orbiter probe. Now the giant sunspot is slowly heading towards Earth again.
When do you look at the sky?
As reported by Carol Wojcicki, astronomy publisher and author of the With Your Head in the Stars blog, AR3664, which is increasingly visible from Earth, released an X2.9-class flare on Monday. Its current location actually rules out the possibility of more dangerous geomagnetic storms, but its continued activity bodes well. “AR3664 is back! It will reach X2.9 immediately! Right now it is still sideways and harmless. But next week? I can’t wait!” – he said on social media.
Most importantly, AR3664 will face Earth when the moon is very close to new moon, which will happen on Thursday, June 6. This means that observations will not be affected by light reflected from the moon. We’d better stay alert for a few nights before and after this date, because with any luck, we’ll have a spectacle that will last for days. It is clear that the activity of the AR3664 region is highly irregular. It may turn out that it will not emit a glow strong enough to cause the aurora visible in Poland.
As Helena Czechowska of the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences explained in an interview with tvnmeteo.pl, it is likely that our star is entering the maximum of the solar cycle. Subsequently, particularly active regions associated with the formation of solar flares and CMEs appear on its surface, increasing the chances of strong geomagnetic storms.
Read more: ‘We appear to be entering the maximum of the solar cycle’
Live Science, Head in the Stars, tvnmeteo.pl
Main image source: Jurand/Contact 24
