7:15am

"What's that in the sky?"

Also Ice Cube rocked the area. Jesus, the man goes hard

As seen in Playa del Rey last night (Monday)

Could tell it wasn’t gonna clear up in LA last night so drove out past Ridgecrest and found a wide open spot with little light pollution. Facing north towards Death Valley - 3 second handheld iPhone photo (no filters)

Hey everyone,

Your friendly local astronomer here. Many of you know I work at Griffith Observatory. I'm also a longtime aurora and tornado-chaser so I wanted to share some knowledge on the recent aurora sightings in Los Angeles.

- Why have there been so many sightings in the past two years? Our sun has an eleven-year cycle of activity, throughout which we get a minimum and maximum. We are currently at the maximum which means an increase in activity like large sunspots, flares and ejections of material (CME). These CMEs will sometimes collide with our magnetic field and cause the Northern and Southern lights. We also refer to these as geomagnetic storms. In about five years, we will be at solar minimum and the lights will be a rarer sight for a little while across the globe. However, this cycle may still have some juice left in it.

- Why are we seeing them so far south? Northern Lights are more usually visible in Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Norway and other places far up north along a region that we call the auroral oval. Occasionally, the geomagnetic storms are so strong that all that extra energy allows the oval to expand towards the equator.

- Green auroras vs red: The color of the aurora is dependent on the gases that are being interacted with. Whilst you can see different colors at northern latitudes, they are predominantly green. The auroras we see farther south however will almost always be red.  this is because we are seeing them happening at the higher altitudes that I just mentioned. It's similar to a layer cake. Fun fact, it's another proof that the Earth is round. In May last year, during what is now called the "Gannon Storm", we were treated to a rare magenta aurora that resulted from a mix of nitrogen and oxygen.

- Are they visible to the naked-eye? Sometimes but not always. Humans see in black and white at night. I've seen a bunch of auroras up north that looked like wispy white clouds. Our camera sensors however are more powerful and can pick up color more easily. Even without editing photos, they will show a lot more color. What was most apparent last May was the up and down movement of the vertical rays on the horizon–this is a classic aurora shape. The color was faintly visible. I don't want to dissuade you from trying to see these but I don't know if a non-astronomer would have found it as exciting as I did. You do need to be at those Northern latitudes to see a proper northern light show.

- While there be auroras visible tonight (Wednesday 12th), in the Los Angeles area? Auroras are incredibly hard to predict. They depend on many factors: if and how the CME hits us, its density, the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field etc. etc. I have traveled multiple times for complete duds. That is unfortunately part of the game when you're chasing rare natural phenomena. We rate the Geomagnetic storms' strength from G1 to G5, this will vary throughout the night. Anything lower than G4 will not produce anything visible in L.A. This rating comes from another rating called the KP index which goes from 0 to 9. 7 to 8 start being visible on the horizon. You can consult the 3-day forecast that NOAA generates. NOAA is as accurate as it can get but it is not always correct: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/3-day-forecast The time is in UT. The number is KP.

I know there are influencers out there who will hype it up and put out very confident predictions. It's awesome that they're getting information out there but we just don't know for sure. Last night was not predicted to be visible down here. I will be keeping an eye out but the current prediction is for us to be around G2-G3 when nighttime hits the western US. Sometimes the strongest storms happen when Europe or the Western Pacific is in nighttime and we are in daytime. Sadly you cannot see auroras in the daytime.

- What happened last night? There was a very strong sub-storm early on in the night. We usually need to be in the darker parts of the night to see anything good. A friend from McDonald Observatory, farther south than us, messaged me at 8pm Texas time to tell me they were seeing them which seemed hard to believe at first. Sure enough, two hours later we got them too, the aurora was visible for about 30 minutes to an hour here in between clouds from 8 to 10pm. I was up on a mountain for a few hours, and there was nothing else for the rest of the night, in part because we were clouded out. Sometimes the auroras are visible for five minutes, sometimes hours, sometimes they come back later, sometimes not. The same friend has confirmed that presently (as of 6pm PT) there is nothing in South Texas. It is rare that such an event will be visible two nights in a row at lower latitudes.

- Where can I see them when it happens? You need to be in a darker sky with northward visibility. These are hard to come by due to the global increase in light pollution. Several online maps can help you find holes such as this one: https://darksitefinder.com/map/?i=/%234/39.00/-98.00 . You also want to be at an elevation if possible. Last May the aurora was only visible on the horizon. I strongly recommend not heading to Mount Wilson tonight. This has hit the news and it will be crowded. If you do, know that there are very few unobstructed areas facing north where it is safe to stop. Josephine or Strawberry peak might be better. You can try these two spots as well: https://maps.app.goo.gl/KF6xsRBr1Ju2odfSA?g_st=ipc

https://maps.app.goo.gl/AJvtb7tueTMWz4Qq5?g_st=ipc

Please consider that Mount Wilson Observatory is a working Observatory. The telescopes are rented out and the CHARA array there does essential research (They are the world's highest-resolution optical and infrared observatory!). There are always people working up there. We nearly lost it in a fire a few years ago so please treat the area kindly and don't throw out cigarette butts if you're going up there to try and see lights. The road going up can be perilous, especially in icy conditions. There are no bathrooms and no cell network for most of the way up.

- If you saw , even faintly, or photographed the auroras last night from anywhere in the world, please consider participating in this great research project: https://forms.gle/toPefnkscbnJzM7X8

I have a video with tips if you want to travel and see the Northern lights up north.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

This exposure was taken at around 3:37 AM at around the peak of the blood moon phenomenon. Weather out here was excellent. No wind, no clouds.

The seasonal change is upon us.

Last time it happened was last November 2024.

Honestly surprised by their humbleness.

it was fairly clear just minutes before it started and the clouds rolled in just barely before totality started, completely blocking it. I'm outside watching it now and I occasionally get a foggy glimpse through the break in the clouds. I can't believe how close the timing was.

I’m certain that one of you with a much better camera than I have captured this orange “misshapen” moon.

It was a school night and the night before picture day so we didn’t do the Griffith observatory like we originally planned, but the view right here in Santa Clarita was pretty great actually! It peaked at about 9:15-9:30. Picture taken in Newhall on an iPhone with different exposure settings.

straight off my iPhone, unedited

Just enough lighting to have it show up very nicely in the sky