Aurora Borealis is one of the coolest astronomical events we can see with our naked eyes. It makes the sky glow beautifully, and the aurora is just random and can be exciting. But they may not be as random as we all think: historical data suggest Aurora Borealis owns season They are more likely to happen than other times of the year. The vernal equinox is one of them, we just enter it.
Read more: The vernal equinox is almost here
The idea that Aurora Borealis has “seasons” comes from data compiled by NASA astrophysicist Dr. David Hathaway. According to the data, the Northern Lights are more likely to appear in March, April, September and October. These are the months closest to spring and equinoxes – the sun crosses the equator and provides almost equal sunlight throughout the planet.
Hathaway’s data is the latest, but not the first one. British Jesuit astronomer Aloysius Cortie published a study on the link between vernal equinox toxin and the aurora in 1912. Later, Sydney Chapman and Julius Bartels had the idea of having the Aurora borealis season twice a year in their book Weird Facts, a training for this exto facto fexto te the Fexto te the Tectob for the tece fefears far deceads.
Read more: Check out these breathtaking photos of the Northern Lights
This means more than a century of scientific consensus suggests that as we reach spring, the Northern Lights are more likely to appear in the next few months, and then change again in September and October with the seasons.
Why does Aurora Borealis have seasons?
The key to the whole process seems to be the way the vernal equinox works. In winter and summer, half of the Earth deviates from the sun, thus reducing the likelihood of Aurora Borealis (unless the geomagnetic storm is particularly strong).
Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium, told CNET in an email. “At this point, the angle of the Earth’s magnetic field is more favorable and closer to perpendicular, which makes it easier for charged solar particles to interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere.”
Read more: Why does Aurora Borealis suddenly become more frequent?
According to Dr. Schmoll, the Earth’s magnetic field has the North Pole and the South Pole, just like any magnet. The same is true for the sun. Dr. Schmoll said science is still figuring out these details, but in short, the sun and the earth’s lines are better during the vernal equinox, which favors more frequent aurora.
“The relative position of all the magnetic field lines around this time makes it easier for the Earth to interact with the solar charged solar wind, resulting in Aurora,” Schmoll said.
The vernal equinox effect (also known as the Russell-McPherron effect) is also completely separate from the 11-year solar cycle that the sun runs through. Currently, during this cycle, the sun has increased to the greatest extent, which increases the chances of aurora north.
Increased Sun activity and vernal equinox effects have been observed recently. In the second half of 2024, Aurora’s northerners illuminated the night sky for most of September and October, with some sailing towards the United States more than the typical night sky.
