Northern Lights Could Dazzle Bay State Skies This Week

Media Contacts: Emily Gowdey-Backus, 978-934-3369, Emily_GowdeyBackus@uml.edu and Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu

With a hoped-for break in the rain, stargazers may get a glimpse of the aurora borealis – commonly known as the northern lights – Wednesday and Thursday, a rare treat for those living in Massachusetts, according to a UMass Lowell astrophysicist available for interviews.

The lights, which appear as colored streaks, rays or spirals in the night sky, occur during solar storms when the sun emits flares of plasma that interact with the Earth’s magnetosphere, the region of space where the planet’s magnetic field is dominant. 

A chain reaction ensues. The flares are magnetized and when they hit the magnetosphere, particles there stream toward the Earth, hitting other particles in the atmosphere that emit light in the process, “similar to the way fluorescent lightbulbs work,” said Associate Professor Ofer Cohen, an expert on space weather and its impact on satellites, astronauts and space-born technology.

“Typically, the regions where the aurora is visible are located at high latitudes, both in the north and south. However, when the interaction between the solar storm and the magnetosphere is very strong, the latitudes at which we can see the aurora get pushed toward the equator and the aurora can be visible from places like Massachusetts,” he said. 

Cohen is available to discuss: 

An associate professor of physics in UMass Lowell’s Kennedy College of Sciences, Cohen conducts research in the university’s Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology and leads UMass Lowell’s computational astrophysics and space physics group. 

To arrange an interview with him, contact Emily Gowdey-Backus or Nancy Cicco.