Northern Lights and Perseid Meteor Shower Hit This Weekend

Those in certain regions of the United States will be able to enjoy two cosmic marvels this weekend as a geomagnetic storm coincides with “the best meteor shower of the year.”

Find out more about catching a glimpse of the northern lights and the Perseid meteor shower below.

The Northern Lights

The curving, blue and green lights of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, are normally only visible from near the Earth’s poles, in the northernmost parts of Russia, Canada and the Scandinavian states.

However, powerful coronal mass ejections—expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the sun—can cause intense geomagnetic storms when they collide with Earth’s atmosphere.

The result is that the lights descend to lower latitudes, allowing more to observe the phenomenon that Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder once described as “daylight in the night.”

On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center said that “solar activity has reached high levels,” the result being that the aurora will become visible to certain regions in the United States.

Where Can Americans See the Northern Lights?

According to the NOAA, the aurora may become visible over “some northern and upper Midwest states from New York to Idaho.”

The agency also anticipates that the influence of the CME will be visible on Friday and Saturday, and advises that the best time to keep an eye out is between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

The Perseid meteor shower, commonly referred to as simply the Perseids, is an annual celestial event during which onlookers can see stars shooting across the sky.

According to NASA, the shower peaks in mid-August and “is considered the best meteor shower of the year.”

The meteors will appear to originate from the constellation Perseus, the agency said, named after the Greek mythological figure who slayed Medusa and rescued the Princess Andromeda

It is also one of the most conspicuous astronomical events, with onlookers able to spot some 50 to 100 meteors per hour, weather permitting.

Where Can People Watch the Perseid Meteor Shower?

As with the aurora, those closest to the Northern Hemisphere are the most able to catch a glimpse of the Perseids.

The FOX Forecast Center said that cities such as New York, New York, Chicago, Illinois, Atlanta, Georgia, Billings, Montana, and Reno, Nevada, will have minimal cloud cover over the weekend and are, therefore, the best spots for unobscured viewing.

In a blog post, NASA urged those hoping to catch a glimpse of the shooting stars to “get out of the city,” adding that the darkest locations are the best for capturing the greatest number of meteors.

When Can People Watch the Perseid Meteor Shower?

While the shower runs from mid-July to early September, the shower is expected to reach its peak activity, with the highest number of shooting stars visible per hour, between the late evening and the early morning of August 11 and August 12, according to NASA.

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