A dazzling display of the aurora, or as they are more commonly known, the Northern Lights, mesmerized the US in early May and filled social media channels.
And maybe you’ll see them again soon.
The sunspot that created the May 10 event is moving back into position that could create a new show.
“Just as the Earth spins on its axis and makes a full rotation every 24 hours, the Sun spins on an axis and makes a full rotation in 27 days,” wrote the Geophysical Institute of Fairbanks, Alaska. That 27-day rotation ends on June 6, meaning it’s possible the Northern Lights will be visible again at low latitudes.
The event will coincide with a new moon, which would make the Northern Lights more visible.
“It will line up nicely,” Ryan French, a solar physicist at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Boulder, Colorado, told LiveScience. ‘Once the sunspot begins to appear, we enter the window of opportunity’ [for solar flares].”
That said, it is far from certain, with many warning that the May event was rare and that it would be unlikely (though not impossible) for a storm of that size to occur again so quickly.
The Space Weather Prediction Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), makes short-term forecasts for the Northern Lights, so June 6 is still too far away from a formal forecast.
Why are the Northern Lights so active?
The sun goes through phases during an 11-year solar cycle. Right now it’s approaching the peak of that cycle, known as ‘solar maximum’. At this time, the Sun is emitting more solar flares and coronal mass ejections, massive plasma bubbles surrounded by rejected magnetic field lines.
The result is that the Northern Lights can occur more often and cover larger areas.
The aurora that appeared in mid-May was the strongest display of the northern lights in the past two decades, according to Tim Brothers, technical instructor and observatory manager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The last major event occurred in October 2003, according to NOAA.
On May 15, after the Northern Lights, Brothers told USA Today Network, “It still seems to be quite active, I hope we can see it again.”
Places to check for Northern Lights forecasts
If you want a chance to see the Northern Lights, here are some websites where you can track the sun’s activity:
This article originally appeared on Wicklocal.com: Northern Lights may return to New England in early June. What to know.
