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This week, magnetic energy was accumulating in the sun like a rubber band turned into a corkscrew. Thursday morning, the rubber band snapped, and the suppressed energy was released as a solar flareIt spews about a billion tons of plasma gas that could result in the dazzling display known as the northern lights when it reaches Earth this weekend.

But will it be visible even on Saturday night or early Sunday morning?

“If I were in the northern echelon of the United States, then I would look up at the sky” Howard J. SingerThe chief scientist at the Space Weather Prediction Center at the National Weather Service said in an interview Saturday.

The forecast center has released a statement. watch geomagnetic storm He said Friday the storm could push the aurora borealis, the scientific name for the northern lights, into Washington State, the Upper Midwest and the Northeast on Saturday. The storm was classified as G3 on a scale from G1 to G5. The center said the technology is not expected to cause disruptions.

“Usually when we reach this level, we will see the northern lights in the northern tier states.” William MurtaghThe program coordinator of the Space Weather Prediction Center said in an interview.

But there are unknowns about any magnetic storm, especially when it’s time to arrive. The so-called massive expulsion of plasma from the sun Coronal mass removal, traveling through space at about one million to six million miles per hour. Dr. Because Earth is about 92 million miles from the sun, the ejected particles’ commute time is short, sometimes as short as 15 hours or as long as four days, Murtagh said.

“That’s a bit of the fast side,” Mr Murtagh said on Saturday. “We expect a hiatus today so it will be just over a 50 hour transition.”

But because the ejected particles are so far away, scientists cannot predict the exact timing. But experts said there would be no light show if the particles reached Earth during the daytime. The same is true if you live in a city with high light pollution or in an area with cloudy weather.

But if it’s night time, the sky is clear, and there’s low light pollution, then people are more likely to see the aurora borealis, experts said.

The prediction center can give people about 30 minutes of warning before the lights appear. Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite It detects tons of ejected particles while they are still between the sun and the Earth.

Mr Murtagh said residents can monitor the status of the centre. social media accounts and Web site for status updates throughout the night.

When the magnetic storm reaches Earth, the purple and green veils – if they do happen – will be the result of the sun’s magnetic bullet interacting with the planet’s magnetic field, and “how it combines with the Earth’s magnetic field will determine how strong the earth’s storm is,” said Mr. Murtagh.

The stronger the storm, the more likely regions in the lower latitudes are to see the northern lights, experts said.

A solar superstorm in 1859 northern lights visible near tropical latitudes In places like Cuba and El Salvador. Aurora borealis seen in 2011 as far south as Alabama.

Meteorologists across the country were already telling residents: they wouldn’t be able to see the lights or Advice for those going north looking at the sky at night.

One of the Des Moines residents had already prepared to see the spectacle in the sky on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m going to go to a dark sky region north of the city and then sit and wait for him,” said Brennan Jontz, 28. Iowa Storm Tracking Network He said it in an interview, on Facebook. “I have to be patient; That’s the name of the game with the northern lights.”

“He will bring a lawn chair,” he said. He’ll drive through the cornfields, away from the city lights, and turn into a gravel road somewhere. Then he’ll sit down, pull out his camera, and wait for it to light up again.