Northern lights might be visible in Michigan early Wednesday: When to look

If you missed the northern lights this past weekend, there may be a chance early Wednesday to see them again.

Of course, you have to be in the right place at the right time — 3:15 a.m. — with the right viewing conditions. But if so, space and weather forecasters say, look up and see the ribbons of colorful light dancing across the night sky.

The scientific explanation for what causes the lights is geomagnetic storms generated by solar coronal mass ejections, which in the past few days have been strong. Michiganders are familiar with the northern lights, also called the aurora borealis.

Last Friday the lights were visible in metro Detroit, which is rare.

If you can go Up North, a Marquette-based artist has a few simple tips, "inside secrets" she calls them, on the best places — and ways — for you to help observe the phenomenon. Mostly, though, you just need to find a good spot and use some common sense.

Weather experts say you don't have to be directly below the northern lights to see them.

Sometimes, they can be visible from more than 600 miles away if the weather conditions are just right.

Even if you did see the lights a few days ago, Upper Peninsula artist Shawn Malone makes the point that "no two events" are ever the same, so if you look up Wednesday morning, you will see a totally different sky than what you remember.

In addition, some folks found that even though they didn't see the lights with their naked eyes when they took pictures with their mobile phones, the colors in the photos turned out to be more vibrant and vivid than what they witnessed.

Malone urged going to a place with a dark sky with no — or few — other lights, and the obstruction of a tree line or hills, she wrote in an article for Michigan.org. Northern Michigan, she pointed out, is a "great location" to view them.

Some people got especially creative with their photos. One person, for instance, apparently took a selfie that is now circulating on social media in front of a green light so it looked like a vapor trail coming out of his backside.

In the U.P., Malone recommended the south shore of Lake Superior, including some of her favorite spots, including Brimley, Whitefish Point, Pictured Rocks, Autrain, Marquette, Big Bay, Skanee, Eagle River Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor.

"Let your eyes adjust to the night sky," she urged potential northern lights viewers. "Set up a lawn chair and blanket and enjoy one of nature’s most spectacular wonderous light shows, the northern lights! It is an experience you won’t soon forget."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Northern lights may make be visible in Michigan early Wednesday