In brief: Go outside, ideally away from central portions of Houston and look north after dark tonight, and bring your phone and take pictures! We have links to tips for using your phone camera below.
Earth is in the crosshairs of a coronal mass ejection (CME) tonight, perpetrated by a solar storm. No need to panic. In fact, this may be an opportunity you rarely get: A chance to see the northern lights at extremely low latitudes. Social media is flooded with photos from all across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic of bright, strong auroral displays.
There have even been photos as far south as Nassau in the Bahamas of the aurora — again. This happened back in May when an auroral display triggered some pictures sent to us from Conroe and elsewhere up north. This storm may be a bit beefier and skies are absolutely crystal clear, so there may be opportunity to see this over more of the region tonight. We can’t promise anything, obviously, as solar storms are fickle creatures, but the data supports the potential for an aurora here in Texas.
One day, we’ll post more about the science behind this and why it takes such a strong storm to allow the northern lights to be visible this far south. In the meantime, there are a few things you should consider if you try to photograph the aurora tonight. The links below will help you. Go forth and conquer.
Tips to photograph the aurora from The Points Guy
I was able to capture views of the auroras on May 11th out here in Colorado County. Super faint with the naked eye, but you could clearly see the reds. Phone camera provided a much better view though.
Thanks for this posting!!
Will head outside about 8pm here in our Magnolia countryside to check on the northern lights!
We can see them from 2 miles south of Magnolia proper.
Where is a good spot north of Houston that has a good view of the northern horizon?