An active aurora borealis is forecast this weekend due to intense solar flares in recent days. University of Alaska Fairbanks physics professor Mark Conde said the sun is approaching the peak of its 11-year activity cycle.
“And that means that there are many sunspots on the sun, and many sort of active unstable sunspots,” Conde said. “And right now there’s a very large what’s called sunspot group, so it’s not just a single sunspot, but a whole bunch of sunspots in a group. And in the last few days, that group of sunspots has released at least five big eruptions of material from the surface of the sun.”
Conde said that energy began hitting Earth’s atmosphere around midday Friday, raising the potential for intense aurora activity, including usual colors.
“You can get this sort of blood red glow across the sky and its rather rare, but quite spectacular when you see it,” he said.
Conde cautioned there’s no guarantee the aurora will be visible over Alaska, and not just because of limited darkness and potential cloud cover.
“Disappointment might be that if conditions become extremely active, the aurora tends to move south,” he said. “Instead of being over Alaska, it can move down to Seattle, or Oregon, or perhaps even down over Texas, if it’s really active.”
Conde said he expects the auroral activity to run from Friday through Monday morning.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
