This year the sun is very active with sunspots. The sun has observable cycles of activity every 11 years, and the sun hasn’t been this active since ten years ago.

There are two seasons of activity for this year: the first was from March to April, the second from August to October. When the sun is active with sunspots, the sun also ejects a very powerful coronal mass toward Earth. That ejection has the ions that cause the auroras near the north and south poles. At these two times this year, the sun and Earth are tilted in a perfect angle so the sun’s most active areas are aimed at Earth. The sun’s ejected materials reach Earth’s magnetosphere, and are channeled toward the north and south poles. The material causes the auroras to become very, very large and can be seen for much greater distances away from the poles.

The auroras can appear to be white or green in color, and appear as wavering cloud-like masses in the sky. They can be seen in northwest Indiana over the next couple months, so be sure to look at the sky and see if you can detect anything that appears to be an aurora.

There are websites to help keep you informed of the sunspot activity and auroras: http://www.spaceweather.com and www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/.