Across Florida and the United States, people looked up into the night sky in May and witnessed an astonishing sight: the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis.
What caused the phenomenon? A very rare geomagnetic storm caused a barrage of coronal mass ejections from the Sun, making the Northern Lights visible in the Sunshine State on May 10.
People from across the United States and around the world posted photos on social media showing the phenomenon in the night sky. And those who enjoy the show might get the chance to see it all again.
The solar flares came from a giant sunspot, a dark region on the sun that is more than 15 times larger than Earth, according to LiveScience. The sunspot continues to produce strong solar flares, and due to the sun’s rotation, the sunspot will face Earth again on June 6, and again during the new moon.
Aurora Borealis/Northern Lights predicted for June 6. Will Florida see the nightly show?
Conditions for a Northern Lights show in the US could be favorable when a huge sunspot points toward Earth on June 6 as the sun rotates on its axis.
The sunspot is still active, causing solar flares – bursts of radiation that are considered the largest explosive events in our solar system – and there will be a new moon on June 6, meaning no moon will be visible in the night sky.
As particles from solar storms are redirected to the north and south poles, they glow different colors depending on the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
Read the full story here: Aurora Borealis can light up the sky again in June. Will the Northern Lights be visible in Florida?
Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis seen in Florida in May 2024
Northern Lights seen in the United States
Laura Lordi is a digital editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at llordi@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida’s Northern Lights could happen again in 2024. When to expect.
