Northern lights seen across Peach State

Gil Pound, The Union-Recorder, Milledgeville, Ga.
·3 min read

May 14—A partial solar eclipse, cicadas, and now an unexpected celestial light show. Less than five full months in, 2024 has been quite the year for natural phenomena in Georgia.

For the first time since 2003, the northern lights could be seen locally late Friday night into Saturday morning. The lights, also known as the aurora borealis in the northern hemisphere, appeared in mostly pink hues to those who lifted their eyes and smartphones skyward to experience the rare sight.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the aurora is formed from interactions between solar wind streaming out from the sun and Earth's protective magnetic field. Auroras are more commonly viewed at the Earth's two poles, but a stronger than anticipated solar storm caused the northern lights to be visible farther south towards the equator Friday.

"Pretty much everybody in the northern hemisphere was able to see it, which is very unusual," said Dr. Catrena Lisse, director of the Georgia College & State University Science Education Center.

Lisse explained why all the photos taken in the central Georgia area showed the northern lights as pink, not green as they are often seen in Alaska.

The shades of green occur when the solar particles collide with oxygen gas. Pink can be seen when that collision occurs with nitrogen.

"When you hit an electron and it gets excited, it jumps up," Lisse said. "Well, what goes up must come down. When that electron relaxes back down to its normal ground state it will give off a color because that energy has to go somewhere. When these particles from the solar flare enter our atmosphere and collide with the gases, it excites the electrons of those gases. When those electrons relax, that's when we see the different wavelengths of light coming off."

Unlike April's partial solar eclipse, this most recent heavenly marvel snuck up on many, causing a lot of people to miss out. Solar activity cycles every 11 years with this current year being a peak in that cycle, so the potential was there.

Solar storms are rated based on intensity from G1 to G5 with 5 being the most intense. The storm that made the aurora visible down into the southern states was originally forecast as a G3 but was upgraded to a G5. Predicting the weather on a sun that's 93 million miles away is no easy task.

"I hate that so many people missed out on it," said Lisse. "It's one of our planet's most vibrant natural phenomena and people didn't get a chance to see it. I think we missed out on a great educational opportunity to explain to people the connection between the sun, the Earth's atmosphere and our magnetic field."

Chances remain for the northern lights to continue reaching the area but are less likely.

NOAA on its website does have aurora forecasts and maps detailing where the lights are expected to be seen in the coming days. None of the forecasts as of Monday afternoon showed the lights going farther south than the Canadian-US border.