Manitoba treated to vivid northern lights show

Posted on October 8, 2024 by Peggy

Many across Canada have had good seats to a dazzling light show in the sky over the past several days.

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, have been visible for consecutive nights across Manitoba, including in Winnipeg.

Danielle Pahud, an instructor in the University of Manitoba’s physics and astronomy department, said right now, Earth is in alignment with the most recent solar cycle, noting the sun has been releasing more solar flares in the past week.

“The sun has been much more active than it has been in a couple decades, and so the likelihood of aurora borealis are higher,” she said. “There’s also a special alignment that happens near the equinoxes – so in the fall and in the spring — between the Earth’s magnetic field and the sun’s magnetic field, that makes the Aurora Borealis more likely.”

The northern lights in Ste Rose Du Lac, Man. on Oct 6, 2024. (Katlin Normandin)

The lights have been coloured red and green primarily, which Pahud said is due to the makeup of gases in our atmosphere. The red colour primarily comes from nitrogen, while the green comes from oxygen.

“You essentially have electrons coming down, bumping into atoms, and electrons getting excited, falling back down, and emitting light, and depending on the energy of that light, it will have different colors,” Pahud said.

If you’ve missed the northern lights, don’t fret; Pahud believes there could be a few more opportunities this week to see them. She said the best places to observe them are in areas with little light pollution, such as Birds Hill Provincial Park, and the best time is around midnight.

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