Many people across New Hampshire saw the northern lights, or the aurora borealis, on Friday night and there is a chance they could be visible on Saturday night. .The phenomenon is caused by solar storms that create coronal mass ejections, which are energized particles exploding from the sun’s surface that reach the Earth’s magnetic field. It was the strongest storm from the sun in more than 20 years, since 2003. >> Timelapse video of the northern lights over New Hampshire>> WMUR viewers share photos of the northern lightsThe “K” system, which measures the magnitude of the solar storm was maxed out on Friday night, at a 9.The forecast for Saturday night is for a 6, a moderate category, meaning it would only likely be seen in far northern New Hampshire. Viewing conditions for Saturday night are not as good as they were on Friday night. There will be an increase in clouds but there could be a window, between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. in northern New Hampshire, where they could clear.>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play < Many people across New Hampshire saw the northern lights, or the aurora borealis, on Friday night and there is a chance they could be visible on Saturday night. . The phenomenon is caused by solar storms that create coronal mass ejections, which are energized particles exploding from the sun’s surface that reach the Earth’s magnetic field. It was the strongest storm from the sun in more than 20 years, since 2003. >> Timelapse video of the northern lights over New Hampshire >> WMUR viewers share photos of the northern lights The “K” system, which measures the magnitude of the solar storm was maxed out on Friday night, at a 9. The forecast for Saturday night is for a 6, a moderate category, meaning it would only likely be seen in far northern New Hampshire. Viewing conditions for Saturday night are not as good as they were on Friday night. There will be an increase in clouds but there could be a window, between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. in northern New Hampshire, where they could clear. >> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play << The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot that’s 16 times the diameter of Earth, according to NOAA. It’s all part of the solar activity that’s ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle. The northern lights were seen as far south as Texas and Georgia on Friday night.
Read More: Will the northern lights appear over New Hampshire again? Depends on where you are
