1. What exactly are the Northern Lights?
The northern lights, officially called aurora borealis, are a light spectacle caused by electrically charged particles from the sun being flung towards the earth at great speed. This stream of particles is called a solar wind or solar storm and is caused by explosions on the surface of the sun. When particles in the atmosphere collide with oxygen atoms and nitrogen molecules, light particles are generated, which differ in color depending on the atoms involved.
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2. What makes this time so special?
“The special thing is that the northern lights can now be seen everywhere in the world with the naked eye,” says weatherman Jan Visser from Marken. Typically, the Northern Lights can only be seen in northern countries, such as Scandinavia and Canada, because the magnetic field is strongest around the Earth’s magnetic poles. In the south the same phenomenon is called southern lights (aurora astralis). “The curious thing is that at this time of year you can see it even better here than in Scandinavia, because it is now light there twenty hours a day,” says Visser.
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Beverwijk© Photo Charmaine Laske
3. It seems as if the Northern Lights can be seen more and more often in the Netherlands, is that correct?
“It is not the case that it happens more often than before,” Visser explains. “It goes in cycles of more than eleven years. We are now in a solar maximum, a phase in which there are many more eruptions on the sun. That phase is still ongoing. It is difficult to predict exactly when the solar storms will occur. It may also be quiet again for a few weeks or months.”
According to the American Institute of Oceanography and Meteorology (NOAA) there was an extremely powerful solar storm of category G5, the strongest category, on Friday. The last time a G5 storm occurred was in 2003 with the so-called Halloween Storms.
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Houses.© Photo Martijn Jacobs
4. NOAA warned about this solar storm, is it dangerous?
A solar storm causes fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field. This can, for example, disrupt GPS signals and power stations. In 2003, the solar storm led to power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa. That does not seem to be the case now, at least not in the Netherlands. “It doesn’t do any harm to us,” says Visser. “For now it’s just fun.”
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Enkhuizen, dike to Andijk© Photo René Postel
5. Does it make sense to stay up again tonight for the Northern Lights?
There is a good chance that the Northern Lights will be visible again tonight. The solar storm is still ongoing, NOAA reported a very strong solar flare on Saturday morning. But the particles can also be thrown to other parts of space. “During Saturday evening it will become clear whether the northern lights will return,” says Visser. “Authorities concerned with magnetism calculate whether or not a large solar flare will head towards Europe. I already slept yesterday, maybe I’ll stay up tonight after all.”
