Posted: Jun 3, 2013 12:36 PM by MTN News - Helena
Updated: Jun 3, 2013 12:58 PM
The Aurora Borealis - better known as the Northern Lights - made an appearance in some parts of Montana on Friday night.
MTN News viewer Patrick Navarro shared these pictures that were taken by his wife in East Helena at around midnight on Friday, May 31. The other two, unlabeled photos, were taken by Edward Williams, taken Friday night northeast of Helena as he was facing north.
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has information about the event and the likelihood of being able to see the Northern Lights:
Being able to see the Aurora depends mainly on two factors, geomagnetic activity (the degree of disturbance of the earth's magnetic field at the time) and your geographic location. Further considerations are the weather at your location, and light pollution from city lights, full moon and so forth.
In general, you are more likely to see an aurora if you are at a high latitude, i.e. closer to the north (or south) pole. However, there is a catch to this. The earth's magnetic poles are not exactly in line with the geographic poles, so the latitude of interest would really be the magnetic latitude. Note that it is not necessary for the equatorward boundary of the aurora to reach all the way down to your magnetic latitude for you to see it. The aurora is easily visible even when its boundary is 4 or 5 degrees poleward of your location.