Everyone has a list of things they would like to see in their lifetime. Being a meteorologist, mine may be a little biased toward weather events, but one just happens to be going on this weekend… the Aurora Borealis (named after the Roman goddess Aurora, of the dawn and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas.) The Aurora Borealis, also called the Northern Light, is usually observed at night, near the poles. It can be green or sometimes red. An aurora in the southern hemisphere is called an Aurora Australis.
Wikipedia does a good job explaining how an aurora occurs. “Auroras are produced by the collision of charged particles, mostly electrons but also protons and heavier particles, from the magnetosphere, with atoms and molecules of the Earth's upper atmosphere (at altitudes above 80 km).” How exactly an aurora is originated is not completely understood yet.
According to NOAA forecasters, there is a 30% chance of more geomagnetic activity tonight.
References:
http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?p=1&query=aurora
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(astronomy)
http://www.spaceweather.com/
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