A geomagnetic storm watch has been issued by the NOAA Space Forecasting Center. The eruption of the sunspot erupted an energy from the sun and is projected to head towards Earth.
The Geomagnetic Storm Watch is valid from today, December 9, to December 11, 2020, until Friday.
Sky watchers hope this will unfold the northern lights in the Great Lakes area tonight.
According to NOAA, coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred on December 7th. CME is defined as follows: “Coronal mass emissions (CME) are large displacements of plasma and magnetic field from the crown of the Sun. They can throw away billions of tons of coronal material and carry an embedded magnetic field. “
Graphics from the NOAA Space Forecasting Center
NOAA predicts that CME’s energy will reach the Earth’s atmosphere today and will strengthen until Thursday. CME energy is expected to peak between 1pm on Thursday, December 9th and Thursday, December 10th. At this peak, the Kp index = 7 is expected.
The northern lights are seen further south as the Kp index rises. Here is a picture from NOAA that shows how south they are seen at the various Kp index values.
The colored lines show how far the southern northern lights can be seen at different intensities of Kp values.
A projected Kp index of 7 would mean that northern lights are likely to be visible up to the Michigan / Ohio / Indiana border. They may also be seen in a southerly direction like Chicago and Cleveland.
Of course, the highly populated areas of the southern Great Lakes region, such as Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland, would have a hard time seeing the Northern Lights with many city lights.
And now the big question is: will we have enough clear skies over the Great Lakes region? In fact, we will have a pretty good chance of certain areas of the clear sky. It’s a rare treat in early December, one of the most cloudy periods in the Great Lakes region.
It’s part of a couple of cool sky events this month. The Geminids ’meteor shower will peak this weekend, and the“ great connection ”of Saturn and Jupiter, unseen for 800 years, will dominate the skies near Christmas.
Stay tuned for MLive updates. For now, plan to stay in an open, dark neighborhood with good views to the north.
READ MORE
Storm Worth Watching Over the Weekend, 4-8 Inch Stripe in Lower Michigan
The December Geminids will be among the best meteor showers of the year
