Thanks to Saturday’s strong eruption on the Sun, the aurora borealis, which is rare in lower latitudes, could also be seen from the territory of the Czech Republic this evening and at night. The Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic informed about this on Facebook. Astronomer Petr Horálek from the Institute of Physics in Opava said that aurora predictions are never 100% accurate, but in this case the chances are not small.
According to Horálek, however, bad weather and the light of the Moon, which is almost full, can make observation difficult. “But if the glow really occurs, it could be recorded at least photographically,” he said.
“According to current data, there will be a greater chance of broken skies after dark, especially in the southern, southeastern and eastern parts of the territory (Vysočina, Moravia and Silesia),” the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute reported on the X network.
‼️ After dark today, there is a good chance of possibly even a significant aurora borealis. A few hours ago, material ejected from a recent solar flare arrived at Earth.
👀Unfortunately, there is and will be a lot of cloudiness during the evening and night, and there will be a chance above the northern horizon only in temporary “holes” in… pic.twitter.com/f4sl0yoBb8
— Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ) (@CHMUCHMI) March 24, 2024
According to him, very strong eruptions were recorded on the Sun on Saturday, during which plasma was released heading towards the Earth. According to Horálek, the monitoring of the American National Offices for the Ocean and Atmosphere and for Space and Astronautics predicts the arrival of a cloud of charged particles and a geomagnetic storm, and therefore possible conditions for the formation of auroras visible even from the Czech Republic. The aforementioned cloud should reach Earth during the night on Monday or rather early in the morning, added Horálek.
If the aurora borealis can be seen at lower latitudes, inexperienced observers may mistake it for the glow of cities, according to experts. “Whether it is really the aurora can be checked very easily on a mobile phone. If you take a picture of it, the mobile phone will show you the color much better than what is visible to the naked eye. Sometimes the so-called color columns can be seen on the photo, which also proves that it’s about the aurora borealis,” said Jakub Rozehnal, director of the Planetum organization protecting the Prague planetarium and observatory.
In the Czech Republic, it was probably last possible to observe the northern lights last November.