If you live above 40 degrees latitude, keep your eyes toward the northern sky during the nights of November 8 and 9 for a chance to see a one-of-a-kind light show. Not sure where the 40 degree latitude line is? It passes through Colorado right around the Denver area.
According to National Geographic, a hole that’s opened up in the sun’s upper atmosphere over the past weekend will allow hot plasma to spill into space. When this happens, it sends out intense gusts of solar wind with it. The result is absolutely stunning, producing auroras high in the sky above earth. An aurora is produced as charged particles carried by the solar wind collide with earth’s atmosphere, energizing air molecules.
Image Credit: Nixxphotography.
Current projections by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say that there’s a 50 to 60 percent chance that the storm will be visible through November 9 at the least.
While nothing is certain with Colorado being so far away from the planet’s magnetic poles, the state does land within the viewing area according to its geographic coordinates. Your best chance to see this phenomena is to head as far north as possible, finding somewhere that’s dark and clear, taking into consideration that peak times of visibility lasts from mid-evening to later into the night.
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