Aurora Borealis May Be Visible In Maryland Tonight
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- They've been called nature's fireworks. The Northern Lights were predicted to make an appearance Tuesday night and possibly Wednesday night in our area.
Mike Schuh reports considering what happened, that's why they're called predictions.
The aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, were supposed to be visible Tuesday night. Did you see it? Neither did we.
"That's a shame if no one saw it, if it really happened. They're beautiful," said Jim O'Leary with the Maryland Science Center. "They're just beautiful."
O'Leary used to live up north and has seen them many times.
They're called the Northern Lights because they're seen in the north---way north, like Canada. An Alaskan prediction model still shows them staying up in their home territory. The beautiful colors at night are caused by energy spit out by the sun, energy that typically goes around the earth.
"The earth is sort of like a rock in the stream and it flows right around it but if it's really strong, it can penetrate it and come down to the poles," O'Leary said.
Maybe it was too bright in Maryland or maybe the colors never came this far south. Maybe Wednesday night is the night.
"You want to look to the north and find the darkest place you can. Those are your best possibilities but you might not see anything," he said.
If the aurora borealis is visible Wednesday night, O'Leary recommends looking for them someplace well north or west of the city.