A natural light display could dazzle the skies on Tuesday night with Coronal Mass Ejections (CME)—eruptions of solar material and strong magnetic fields—expected to reach Earth.
The aurora borealis, or the northern lights, may become visible over many of the northern U.S. states with a geomagnetic storm watch spanning November 11 and 12 issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).
The aurora is a colorful light display created when energetic particles from the sun interact with Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere, giving people the chance to view space weather from our planet.
This follows a recent storm watch announced for November 7 and 8.
“CME erupted from the Sun again on November 9th and 10th. The 9 Nov CME is anticipated to reach Earth later on Tuesday, 11 Nov; while the faster CME from 10 Nov is anticipated to arrive shortly afterward, early on Wednesday, 12 Nov,” NOAA said in a statement.
“Analysis of these CMEs suggests arrival at Earth as flanking portion events. However, most model runs suggest enough Earth-directed components to warrant a G2 (Moderate) Watch for 11 Nov and a G3 (Strong) Watch for 12 Nov.”
Several states appear above the view line for the aurora tonight on the forecast map, though this will depend on conditions at the time and the accuracy of predictions.
These states include Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York (northern parts).
They also potentially include South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
“Aurora can often be observed somewhere on Earth from just after sunset or just before sunrise. The aurora is not visible during daylight hours,” according to the NOAA.
“The aurora does not need to be directly overhead but can be observed from as much as 1000 km away when the aurora is bright and if conditions are right.”
Generally speaking, it adds, “Best aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight (between 10 PM and 2 AM local time). These hours of active aurora expand towards evening and morning as the level of geomagnetic activity increases. There may be aurora in the evening and morning but it is usually not as active and therefore, not as visually appealing.
“The best seasons for aurora watching are around the spring and fall equinoxes.”
The key is that it must be dark at night, ideally away from city lights.
The skies have also been illuminated in recent weeks (or are soon expected to be) by the Taurids Meteor Shower, comet 3I/ATLAS, comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) and the Beaver Moon.
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