Look Up! Brilliant Northern Lights May Light Up New York Sky

We may get lucky and catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights over New York.

The Northern Lights, or aurora borealis as they're technically called, will light up the night sky over the Northern part of the country from Wednesday, August 17 to early Thursday, August 18, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.

A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) or a high speed solar wind stream emanating from the Sun may be heading towards Earth, causing a Northern Lights display.

This basically means we may be able to see the Northern Lights in the Northeast.

When to See

You'll need a dark sky between 10 PM and 1 AM to see the lights the best. Charles Deehr, a professor emeritus and aurora forecaster at the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute, says you'll need a little patience too.

"Active periods are typically about 30 minutes long and occur every two hours, if the activity is high. The aurora is a sporadic phenomenon, occurring randomly for short periods or perhaps not at all."

What Are Northern Lights

The aurora borealis is caused by interactions between the solar wind, which is the stream of charged particles emanating from the sun, and the Earth's magnetic field, according to Space.com.

Watch From Home

You can see the Northern Lights without leaving your house. The Canadian Space Agency has a live camera of the skies above Yellowknife, one of the best places to see the spectacular light show. You may also get a nice look in the Adirondacks. Several Central New York photographers have captured the colors the last few times Mother Nature has lit up the sky.