A look at the science of the Northern Lights, why they’re so visible this week, and why they are likely to get even more so.
“To the eye, they are more greyish in colour, almost like a cloud. That’s because the human eye doesn’t pick up faint colour well. If the aurora is very bright, however, it can appear greenish or yellowish and some have a beautiful fringe of pink at the bottom. What you see depends on the sensitivity of your eyes, and, of course, everybody’s eyes are different.”Article contentSunlight famously takes eight minutes to reach Earth. But solar wind, which causes aurora, is considerably slower.
Aurora borealis illuminate the sky over Hornbaek Beach in the northern part of Sealand, Denmark late on Feb. 27, 2023.There are several physical cycles that help explain this. Solar wind is generally constant, but there are other factors that cause variations in what is observed on Earth. There was definitely a boost in auroral activity on Sunday and Monday,, which tracks and predicts the phenomenon.
Another factor is sunspots. Sunspots are irregular smaller scale eruptions of solar wind, which rise and fall in frequency on a regular 11-year cycle that has been observed for centuries. This pattern also corresponds to regular reversals in the Sun’s magnetic polarity. The last peak was in 2014, and the next is expected in 2025, so compared to the recent past, aurora should seem to be getting more prominent these days.
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