Northern lights may be back tonight in Massachusetts, forecast map shows

BOSTON – The northern lights could put once again put on a show in Massachusetts tonight and Friday night, according to the latest aurora forecast. You could say New England is becoming the “new Iceland.”

Over the last several months the sun has been incredibly active, unleashing a series of coronal mass ejections from its surface.

The last week or so has been one of the most active periods we have seen in years. For the last several nights, folks have been spotting the northern lights all over New England. The geomagnetic storm responsible for those amazing views is now subsiding.  

But it’s not over yet. Another massive CME occurred Tuesday. This emanated from a giant sunspot (AR3848) that was facing directly at Earth.

Severe geomagnetic storm watch

Space weather forecasters have issued a “Severe G4 Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Thursday and Friday.

We will know more as we get more data and are closer to the time of the event, but early indications are that we could be treated to another amazing couple of nights in the sky.

What causes the northern lights and aurora borealis?

Meteorologist Jacob Wycoff explained what causes the northern lights earlier this year, when the aurora borealis put on a stunning display in May over the region after a sunspot sent electrons toward Earth.

“What happened is, those electrons, they interacted with our atmosphere,” he explained. “And depending on the element and the altitude at which they were interacting with the atmosphere, that’s where we got the colors from.”

Sun blast may have ripped comet’s tail

Finally, check out this amazing image from a SOHO spacecraft currently orbiting around the sun.

Remarkably, it caught the massive CME AND Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS!

Scientists think it is possible that the massive blast from the sun might have ripped off part of the tail of the comet. Time will tell as the comet comes back into view this weekend in the western horizon.