Although we have seen some amazing displays of the Northern Lights in 2024, the good news is that there will be more opportunities in the coming year, thanks to the sun which is at its solar maximum. The next light show could take place tonight, Saturday, November 9, due to a solar flare launched earlier this week.

Tonight’s light show can’t light up the sky like some of the auroras seen earlier this yearbut it should still be a good show for some in the US.

For now, the The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans that the Northern Lights will be visible in the northernmost states of the United States. These states include:

• Idaho
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Montana
• North Dakota
• South Dakota
• Washington
• Wisconsin

Residents of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire may also get lucky tonight. NOAA says the geomagnetic storm causing this aurora occurrence is around a G1 or G2 level storm, which is at the lower end of the spectrum.

Learn more: You can catch a meteor shower almost every night for the rest of the year

This aurora borealis is the result of a coronal mass ejection which NOAA detected on November 7. The solar flare that launched it was measured as an M3 class flare, which is on the weaker side. However, enough water will reach Earth to push the Northern Lights a little further south than they usually would. Since the storm is expected to last for several days, it is possible that the Northern Lights will reach a little further south than expected. So even if you’re a little outside of the NOAA forecast zone, it won’t hurt to take a look. You can even see a meteor from a meteor shower.

The M3-class flare appeared just a day after a much larger and more powerful X2.3-class flare was launched. detected on November 6. This eruption caused radio frequency problems, but did not result in more active aurora borealis. If this eruption had hit Earth correctly, it would have pushed the northern lights much further south. THE recent sighting of the northern lights which lit up half of the United States came from an X1.8 class flare.

Learn more: This month’s Super Moon will be the last until October 2025

The Northern Lights are caused by coronal mass ejections from the Sun that interact with Earth’s geomagnetic field. The interaction of solar matter and radiation with the Earth’s magnetic field causes magnificent illumination of the sky. The more powerful and intense the coronal mass ejection, the more intense the Northern Lights become. Extending into the northern United States, it is in the lower half of the scale, but still higher than would typically be seen.

How to see the Northern Lights?

If you’re in the area where the Northern Lights will be, get as far away from light pollution as possible and simply look toward the northern sky. Light pollution makes it much more difficult to see the Northern Lights, especially in the southernmost areas of the Northern Lights, where they will be weakest. The darker the sky, the better.

Learn more: See these stunning photos of the Northern Lights taken by Aurora Watchers

Photographing the aurora is a little more difficult, especially on a smartphone. You’ll want to point the phone at the sky and enable night mode to increase the exposure time as much as possible for the best results. The further north you go, the better your results.