Stargazers worldwide are about to see a ‘dramatic’ increase in Northern Lights – scientists are baffled at why

THERE is set to be a big uptick in Northern Lights sightings next year, and scientists have been left baffled at the reason why.

During the Solar Maximum, the Sun produces “dramatically more” auroral displays, according to Darren Baskill, a physics and astronomy lecturer at Sussex University.

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“We’re now approaching the maximum, so I’d expect high levels and basically every few days seeing aurora,” Baskill told Norwegian travel company Hurtigruten.

“Whereas five years ago, you might have to wait weeks to see anything.”

The Solar Maximum is when solar activity peaks, which occurs every 11 years or so.

The next high point had been forecast for July 2025.

However, the Solar Maximum will arrive earlier than expected, according to Nasa scientist Robert Leamon and Scott McIntosh, deputy director at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

They say the cycle’s peak will occur a year earlier in mid-to-late 2024.

This means the best time of the decade to tick the Northern Lights off your bucket list is right around the corner.

Stargazers need to wait just eight to 12 months to see the biggest and brightest auroral displays within the Sun’s 11 year cycle.

Sunspots – which kick out solar flares that cause Northern Lights – will become twice as likely during the Solar Maximum, which lasts between three and five years.

During the time, the displays will appear more vibrant with red, pink and purple hues which are typically more rare than the green waves.

“Over the course of 11 years, [the approximate length of a Solar Cycle], the magnetic field between the Sun’s northern and southern hemispheres winds up until it becomes so dense that the hemispheres flip,” Baskill explained.

“The north hemisphere becomes the south and vice versa.”

Sunspots, black regions on the Sun’s surface, are particularly active areas that can ‘burp’ out solar wind in Earth’s direction.

When these streams of highly charged particles collide with the Earth’s magnetic field, they make the upper atmosphere glow.

This heightened era of activity is why humans are graced with such an epic sight.

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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk