How to see Northern Lights in Georgia tonight
ATLANTA - North Georgia is preparing and planning for another celestial show of Northern Lights late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.
According to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, another series of CMEs, otherwise known as coronal mass ejections, associated with flare activity from Region 3664 over the past several days are expected to merge and arrive at Earth by midday (UTC) on May 12.
Periods of G4-G5 (Severe-Extreme) geomagnetic storms are likely to follow the arrival of these CMEs.
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The aurora will likely become visible over much of the northern half of the country.
In north Georgia, mostly clear skies are expected overnight, making conditions ideal for viewing those auroras.
What time will the Northern Lights be visible tonight?
The best aurora is usually seen within an hour or two of midnight (between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. local time), but from our perspective, you’re unlikely to see the Northern Lights with the naked eye. Therefore, you’ll need a special camera, or you’ll need to adjust your smartphone’s camera settings.
How to capture the Northern Lights on a smartphone
FOX 13 Seattle's Managing Editor Kristina Moy put together the following cohesive guide to help you catch this celestial spectacle on your smartphone:
If you don't have a fancy camera, the blog, Hello Aurora says you can still "record impressive videos under the right conditions" using an iPhone or Android. To do so, Hello Aurora recommends the following steps:
Step 1: Open your camera app and switch to Photo mode
Hello Aurora says the aurora is more visible in your camera's Photo mode compared to Video mode due to the longer exposure time used when capturing a photo.
Step 2: Record your screen using the screen recording feature of your phone
Step 3: Edit
To get the best video possible, Hello Aurora recommends editing your recorded video by removing the initial segment where you activated the screen recording. Then, crop the screen as you like.
When using Photo mode, Hello Aurora says this "minimizes camera shake and makes sharper images" but does vary depending on your phone model and software version. If your phone's camera quality is not clear enough to see the Northern Lights, the blog recommends downloading an external app like NightCap, to help improve visibility.
RELATED: How to record the Northern Lights above US skies in real-time
If you're using an iPhone 11 Pro or newer, Visit Iceland recommends using Night mode, and says to "use it to adjust your exposure time (around 10-15 seconds) to capture the aurora's dance."
