While the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, usually only appear in the most northern parts of the Earth, it’s now extending farther south into parts of the United States.
The aurora borealis is caused by particles colliding with the magnetic field in Earth’s atmosphere, producing a show of colorful lights.
PBS NewsHour’s Miles O’Brien told NewsHour’s John Yang that the sun has a cycle of about 11 years, from solar minimum to solar maximum, and it’s now entering the solar maximum stage.
During this stage, activity on the sun increases, causing the northern lights to extending to “lower latitudes.”
“You don’t have to go to the Arctic or to Iceland anymore because of this solar maximum,” O’Brien said.
This post was produced and edited by Yasmeen Alamiri, Cecilia Lallmann, Julia Griffin, Dan Cooney and Steff Staples.
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Follow us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour
Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe:
PBS NewsHour podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe
