Northern lights might be visible in SC Tuesday. Here’s how to see them

If you’re a fan of astronomical events and pretty lights, tonight might be the night for a small road trip away from the city.

A powerful geomagnetic storm may cause the northern lights, or aurora borealis, to appear in the Carolinas on Tuesday night. With a little help from your phone on night mode and a clear night sky with little light pollution, beautiful colors from the solar’s solar waves can be at your fingertips.

On Sunday, Jan 18, the sun released a giant solar flare that sent a beam of magnetic energy toward Earth. The massive cloud of plasma mass, known as a coronal mass ejection, arrived in Earth’s magnetosphere today.

Its effects are expected to decline as the day progresses, but there’s a chance a sub-storm could bring back conditions in the south to see the lights.

The storm from the sun is the largest it’s been in 20 years, according to the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The SWPC rates these storm on a scale from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme), and this storm is listed as G4, the second-strongest category.

If conditions allow for the northern lights to appear, here’s how you can see them:

• Get away from light pollution and find a dark sky
• Look for true north, since auroras mostly appear near Earth’s magnetic poles.
• Use your phone on night mode if you can’t see the lights. Camera’s can reveal hidden lights that are invisible to the naked eye.
• Optimal viewing is often later in the night, but because the storm’s effects are expected to decline, it might be better to go see them as soon as it gets dark

While it’s possible the radiation storm can make the northern lights appear in the Carolinas tonight, it’s impossible to be sure until further information is released.

To track the solar storm’s status, look at the SWPC’s website.