Solar storms could bring northern lights to south

In this x-ray photo provided by NASA, the sun is
shown early in the morning of Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. The dark arc near
the top right edge of the image is a filament of plasma blasting off the
surface -- part of the coronal mass ejection. The bright region is an
unassociated solar flare. When particles from the eruption reach Earth
on the evening of Aug. 3-4, they may trigger a brilliant auroral display
known as the Northern Lights.

Canadians will have a good chance of seeing the northern lights over
the next two days, even if they are not accustomed to seeing such sights
at lower latitudes.

That's because the sun has entered a solar maximum, a stormy period
in the sun's activity cycle that recently resulted in a coronal mass
ejection -- a release of a large amount of charged particles that are
hurtling towards the Earth at high speeds.

York University astronomer Paul Delaney said the result is that the
incoming charged particles "are going to interact with the Earth's
magnetic field, or magnetosphere."

"We've got a 50-50 chance that as those particles rain down into our
atmosphere, they will trigger extensive aurora borealis -- the northern
lights -- all across the northern hemisphere from about Toronto's
latitude and further north," Delaney told CTV News Channel during an
interview in Toronto on Tuesday morning.

Those odds will leave amateur astronomers looking up for the next two
nights, as they watch for what Delaney describes as "shimmering
curtains of light."

"Very faint, probably greenish-white, maybe with a bit of luck, some
tinges of orange and red. But basically, large sheets of lights, towards
the northern horizon, but well-elevated…all across the sky," said
Delaney.

Northern lights are not usually seen so far south, but the specific
characteristics of the coronal mass ejection should make it possible for
most Canadians to view the phenomenon, Delaney said.

"When we have such a significant amount of particulate radiation
sweeping towards the Earth, it sort of overwhelms the magnetic field of
the Earth and more charged particles seep through and impact the
atmosphere at further, southernly latitudes," said Delaney.

Delaney said that people on the ground have no reason to worry about
the radiation associated with the incoming particles, as "there is next
to no danger associated with this event."

"It's just a wonderful light show and I would certainly encourage anybody to go outside tonight after sunset is finished."

Until recently, the sun had been in a period of relative inactivity, as part of a cycle that NASA says lasts about 11 years.

According to NASA, the last solar maximum occurred in 2001. Another is expected in about three years' time.