Great News for Stargazers: Northern Lights Activity Is Officially on the Rise in the US

While the Northern Lights are traditionally most visible near the North and South Poles, there have been recent sightings of the phenomenon reaching Minnesota and even Pennsylvania. The increased solar activity is only expected to continue, according to NBC News.

Sunspots—large areas of very strong magnetic fields on the sun's surface—have increased dramatically in 2022. If sunspots are active, more solar flares occur and create an increase in geomagnetic storm activity for Earth, according to the National Weather Service. During sunspot maximums, Earth sees an increase in the Northern Lights (also known as the aurora borealis).

If increased sunspot observations continue, scientists believe that the next 18 months will bring the strongest Northern Lights activity we've seen in the past 20 years. This may mean that the phenomenon will be visible more frequently and from more places on Earth, scientists told NBC News.

It's believed that solar activity will steadily increase until 2024, which is when the Northern Lights are expected to reach their peak. But even now the additional solar activity has already had an effect on where in the world the aurora borealis can be seen from. This year, the Northern Lights were spotted as far as Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as in Arizona.

An increase in sunspots isn't the only reason solar activity has been more dramatic. According NBC News, autumnal and spring equinoxes lead to greater disruptions in the Earth’s magnetic field. This is because the orientation of the Earth’s magnetic field points its weakest part toward the sun, which allows more space particles to access Earth’s atmosphere.