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NORTHERN LIGHTS

September skywatching: Mars is on the move, fall equinox, Jupiter and Saturn get cozy

At the equinoxes, neither hemisphere is more tilted toward the Sun, so both hemispheres receive the same amount of sunlight. September 22 is the fall equinox, which is the start of autumn in our hemisphere. While Mars started this month high in the southern sky before sunrise, it’ll head east as September progresses. The details: “On the night of the 9th, Jupiter and Saturn escort the Moon across the sky. Check out NASA’s Night Sky Network here.

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Northern Lights study may help NASA prevent satellite, space junk crashes

That information will be used in a NASA study to better predict whether satellites and other space junk might collide – and with enough advance notice to take emergency action. “The region that satellites orbit through, like the International Space Station, there is still some atmosphere there. That happens because aurora borealis events inject energy into the atmosphere, Ridley said. U.S. military officials track every satellite and piece of space junk in low orbit around Earth, and for good reason. “These satellites only have a certain amount of fuel in that you can’t refuel the satellite,” Ridley said.

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Northern Lights viewing tips for aurora adventures

When you live someplace as beautiful as Michigan’s two peninsulas, having Northern Lights float on the horizon is just extra frosting on the Mitten-shaped cake. RELATED: Northern lights chances increase with strong geomagnetic storm watch upgrade; Here’s whenOur friends at the National Weather Service office in Gaylord have shared these tips to help people perfect their Northern Lights-watching experiences:Focus on the northern part of the sky. The Northern Lights typically appear close to the horizon. You can check the aurora forecast by look at websites like NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center and looking at the 30-minute aurora forecast. MORE STORIES FOR SKYWATCHERS8 cool spots to find dark sky parks in MichiganHistoric Keweenaw lodge named Michigan’s newest International Dark Sky Park

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Northern Lights to become more likely in next 3 years, expert says

These sunspots shoot magnetic energy at Earth and can produce northern lights. This also means the bottom of a solar cycle is also about 11 years from the next bottom of a cycle. Sunspot cycle forecast (in red) with actual sunspot counts (in purple). Murtagh also says the best northern lights shows can occur just after the peak of the solar cycle, as was the case in the last solar cycle. Regardless of when the sunspot peak occurs, get ready for increased numbers of nights with possible northern lights.

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Balloons take to the sky to kick off return of Hot Air Jubilee

JACKSON, MI -- Al Smith has lost track of how many times he’s been a part of the Hot Air Jubilee. He was among 12 pilots who launched their balloons from Ella Sharp Park Thursday evening, July 22, in the media flight for the Jubilee. The balloons floated northeast from Ella Sharp Park. “It’s fun to get together and be able to display our sport.”Balloons are scheduled to take off for the Jubilee at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the park, weather permitting. RELATED: Hot Air Jubilee is back in Jackson with a renewed focus on hot-air balloonsUpdates or cancellations of flights due to weather will be announced 30 minutes before take off on the Hot Air Jubilee’s Facebook page.

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NASA space probe spots northern lights on Jupiter

If you thought the northern lights were a rare sight for us earthlings, you may want to think again. Those beautiful colors most visible in the Arctic and Antarctic are not only found on Earth: Jupiter has northern lights, too. Northern lights here on Earth result from charged particles from the sun that interact with the earth’s magnetosphere to create that glow that we see. AdPrevious missions did not really provide a good look at the Jovian aurorae, but Juno is a polar-orbiting spacecraft, so these images are our first real deep dive into the planet’s northern lights. New revelations on Jupiter, combined with those recently discovered on Mars, have made for an interesting year of space exploration so far!

Second chance for Northern Lights tonight in Michigan: Here’s the update

DETROIT – It appears that the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) didn’t get this far south Wednesday night to be visible in southern Michigan. See spectacular actual video of the solar flare that gave us this chance to see the aurora borealis above. Translation: There wasn’t enough “oomph” to push that ring of Northern Lights down to southern Michigan. What are the Northern Lights? They are known as “aurora borealis’ in the north and “aurora australis” in the south.

Northern Lights could be visible this week in Michigan: Here’s why and when

Second chance for Northern Lights Thursday night in Michigan: Here’s the updateA massive solar flare on the Sun erupted in the direction of Earth. If you see green or red in the sky, then you know you’re looking at the Northern Lights. Thursday morning update:It appears that the Northern Lights didn’t get this far south Wednesday night to be visible in southern Michigan. Translation: There wasn’t enough “oomph” to push that ring of Northern Lights down to southern Michigan. What are the Northern Lights?

Metro Detroit weather: Northern Lights and weekend storm update

DETROIT – It appears that the Northern Lights didn’t get this far south Wednesday night. Translation: There wasn’t enough “oomph” to push that ring of Northern Lights down to southern Michigan. Check the radar and road conditions on the Local4Casters weather app if you plan to travel up north this weekend. Rain here in southeast Michigan changes to snow showers overnight Saturday night, with lows in the mid 30s (2 degrees Celsius). Steady temperatures in the mid 30s, and it’ll be a breezy day.

Metro Detroit weather forecast: Sunshine prevails on Thursday, but a cooldown is coming

We expect clouds to come back prior to sunrise on Friday. NASA detected a solar eruption Monday and issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Wednesday through Friday (how 2020 is that?). Weekend snow shotOur weekend system still looks like a rainmaker, primarily. So, it won’t take a huge change in the track of this system to drastically change our forecast. That weekend system will be the transition to more December-ey temperatures for next week.

Geomagnetic Storm Watch issued, Northern Lights could shine over Michigan

The hope by sky watchers is that this will unfurl Northern Lights across the Great Lakes area as soon as tonight. The Northern Lights are visible farther south as the Kp index rises. The colored lines show how far south northern lights could be visible at different strengths of Kp values. The predicted Kp index of 7 would mean Northern Lights could possibly be seen down to the Michigan/Ohio/Indiana border. Of course the highly populated areas of the southern Great Lakes region, like Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland, would have a hard time seeing Northern Lights with lots of city lights.

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STEVE is smearing green 'streaks' across the sky, and nobody knows why

It can appear closer to the equator than a typical aurora, and is often accompanied by a "picket fence" of jagged green points dancing beside it. Nobody knows what causes STEVE, but scientists agree it's no mere aurora. These tiny smears of green light are sometimes seen extending horizontally from the bottom of STEVE's green fence pickets, curving backward for about 20 to 30 seconds before vanishing from view. That makes the streaks "the lowest‐altitude and smallest‐scale optical feature associated with STEVE," the researchers wrote in the study. One clue about the streaks' origins comes from their green color, which is identical to the color of STEVE’s picket fence.

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Several Earth-sized sunspots have just developed, could spur Northern Lights

These sunspots could be the first feature needed for Northern Lights soon. Murray warns that Northern Lights visible down to Michigan’s latitudes are not a given just because three Earth-sized sunspots are pointing at Earth. A solar storm, or eruption on one of the sunspots, would have to occur to really increase our chance of seeing Northern Lights. (NASA image)But the first step toward getting Northern Lights is currently on the sun- large sunspots eventually pointing at Earth. The next step on our quest to see Northern Lights is to wait for an eruption in the sunspots.

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Back-to-school in Michigan | Storms coming tonight

Did you catch the Northern Lights in Michigan? "Light It Blue" is a national effort to raise disease awareness and support for men affected by prostate cancer. The blue lights will serve as a visual reminder that prostate cancer continues to affect 1 in 9 men. Today's featured photo: Did you catch the Northern Lights in Michigan? We arrived just before sunset giving us time to scope out the area before the dark skies set in and the Northern Lights started to dance!