Why northern lights seem more frequent than ever - from solar science to snapshot for smartphone

Why did the world suddenly become obsessed with northern lights? It seems that it does not pass a week without news about solar flames and, very often, a forecast for aurore after them. So do the northern lights seen further to the south than usual? Or do people notice them more?

This is why Northern Lights have become more visible and spoken than ever in the last year.

Northern Lights explained

Auroras happens when the particles loaded from the sun – Solar wind – Interact with The magnetic field of the Earth. An auroral oval is permanently over the Arctic and Antarctic circles at 66 degrees north and south respectively. Location in these regions – including Alaska, northern Canada, northern Scandinavia and North Russia – I frequently see Auroras at night, about 10 pm and 2 in the morning from the end of August and the beginning of April every year, when there is enough darkness.

“The fundamental processes that create them are always”, “Tom Kerss, the author”Nordic Lights: Definitive Guide to Auroras (Collins, 2021) and chief Aurora Hunter for Hurtigruten’s astronomy cruisessaid Space.com. “The interaction between the Earth’s magnetic field and the solar wind continuously produces auroral activity in the polar regions.”

Maximum solar explained

Maximum solar It’s a reason why Northern Lights is a big news at this time. The sun is about 11 years old Solar cycleduring which the activity of our star is required and extinguished. This activity includes Solar flamesWhat are explosions in the sun; and Coronal mass ejections (CME), which are clouds of loaded particles that are launched in space, sometimes in the direction of the earth. During the needle in that cycle, called a minimum solar, the surface of the sun is empty and it happens a little.

When the activity of the solar cycle rises Solar spots appear as black areas on the surface of the sun. Can be seen by TELESCOPES equipped with solar filters and even through eclipses of solari eclipses. (Make sure View the Sun safely with The best solar viewing equipment.) These solar spots are colder areas of the surface of the sun and how much they are visible with how active the sun is. The maximum solar is declared when the number of solar stains.

NASA’s scientists and national and atmospheric national administration (Noaa) PREDICTED that the current cycle, solar cycle 25 ( 25 of 1755When the usual daily records of solar stains began), they will reach their maximum in July 2025. Error bars mean their own peak – which is measured that the number of solar stains in a calendar month – could appear between November 2024 and March 2026. In October 2024, the same scientists announce The solar maximum has arrived. However, they also stated that this maximum solar period could continue for the next year.

How to affect the maximum solar who sees Auroras

The image satellite surprised this view of Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) on September 11, 2005, a green light ring is seen at the Southern Geomagnetic Pole.

The earth has two oval Aurora, one in the northern hemisphere and the other in the southern hemisphere. NASA’s image satellite surprised this view of Aurora Australis (southern lights) on September 11, 2005. The image clearly shows the Aroral oval on the South Pole. (Image Credit: NASA)

Because they frequently experience Auroras, the regions under the auroral oval are the best places in the world to see the northern lights throughout the solar cycle. However, intensity and visibility can still vary. The maximum solar periods will produce more spectacular and widespread displays, which can be visible at lower latitudes. In short, the intensity of the solar wind can increase – mainly when some CME arrive Earth Simultaneously to trigger a significant geomagnetic storm – causing the auroral oval to approach the equator.

Why solar cycle 25 is so special

The solar cycle 25 exceeded the predictions and explains why the auroras were observed further from the Arctic and Antarctic circles. “With Auroras it was visible globally in May (2024) and then again in October (2024) and January (2025), it was a special cycle so far,” Kerss said.

In general, there are several solar and CME flames during the solar maximum, which, theoretically, appears every 11 years. In practice, sun It is very active on each side for one year or two.

“What has been fascinating in terms of solar cycle 25 is that, so far, it is about to overcome the expected performance of the anterior Solar Cycle 24, and perhaps even the solar cycle 23, which was a fairly good cycle for Auroras,” Kerss said. In short, it is the best time to see Auroras further south than the place where the auroral oval is usually positioned for several decades.

A man who wears an orange yellow hat holds a phone to take a picture of Northern Lights that dance in the sky as green and blue light ribbons

Modern smartphones usually do an excellent job in capturing images with Aurore. (Image Credit: Everste through Getty Images)

There are photos with northern lights wherever you look. Given that the last time the northern lights were seen far from the equator was a few years after the maximum solar in 2001, there is an obvious reason for this. Socializing applications and smartphones did not exist then, and mobile phones had poor quality cameras. Knowing the potential display of Northern lights in advance has been much less likely than at present, when alerts and forecasts are posted on social networks and sent by smartphone notifications. And even though Auroras became visible then, usually only experienced astrophotographers with expensive cameras were successful in photographing these colored lights.

However, in recent years, the low light capabilities of smartphones have improved dramatically; They actually doubled the quality with each new generation of phones. Even the short exposures of Auroras are possible using a smartphone, as well as real -time videos. Now, anyone can take excellent images using a smartphone and share them with the world in seconds. Social media has also played a significant role in increasing awareness and interest in Northern Lights, with platforms such as Instagram that leads travel trends, including Aurora viewing.

The sky is colored pink and purple while Auroras dances behind the clouds. There are remote mountains silhouette on the night sky with the sea below.

Even during a weaker Aurora display, smartphones can surprise impressive photos. This photo was caught with an iPhone 16 during a trip to Norway with Northern Lights Company. (Image Credit: Daisy Dobrijevic)

There is also a new generation of applications such as Glendale appthat often escapes understood Index kp In favor of solar wind data in real time from satellites and the ground stations to predict “subtor” – Imminent Aurora display – and send alerts based on a user’s location. Although the experience in interpreting these solar data in real time is a huge help, disseminating this information on social media makes people more likely to be at the right place to witness the sudden display of Aurora.

Unrealistic expectations

Ease of sharing Aurora experiences on social networks can sometimes lead to unrealistic expectations. “What we see with our eyes is not as vibrant as the camera,” Kerss noted. The vibrant colors captured by the rooms are often more intense than perceiving the human eye, which can disappoint some spectators. Aurora hunters now use smartphones to check suspicious forms in the sky and, in fact, auroras.

Maximum Solar, Smartphones and Social Media have fed an increasing interest in Space weather, astronomy and Arctic Tourism and have democratized viewing aurora and Astrophotography. However, these factors also brought new challenges in managing expectations and providing accurate information.