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 told ČTK that aurora predictions are never 100% accurate, but in this case the chances are not small. According to him, however, bad weather and the light of the moon, which is almost full, can make observation difficult. According to meteorologists, due to cloud cover, there will be a greater chance of seeing the phenomenon in Vysočina, Moravia and Silesia.
“Unfortunately, there is and will be a lot of cloud during the evening and night,” reported on the X network by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ). According to him, it will only be possible to see the aurora above the northern horizon in transient “holes” in cloud cover, which will be after dark especially in the southern, southeastern and eastern parts of the country.
‼️ 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
“But if the glow really occurs, it could be recorded at least photographically,” said Horálek.
According to him, nand the Sun very powerful eruptions during which plasma was released heading towards the Earthi. According to Horálek, monitoring by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Space and Astronautics (NASA) predicts the arrival of a cloud of charged particles and a geomagnetic storm, and therefore possible conditions for the emergence 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.
Aurora Borealis are among the most beautiful natural phenomena in the sky and are quite common in the polar regions, where they are visible all over the sky. If they are seen at lower latitudes, according to experts, inexperienced observers can mistake them for the glow of cities. “Whether it is really the aurora can be checked very easily on a mobile phone. If you take a picture of it, your mobile phone will show you the color much better than what is visible to the naked eye. Sometimes the so-called colored columns can be seen in the photo, which also proves that it is the aurora borealis,” Jakub Rozehnal, director of the Planetum organization protecting the Prague planetarium and observatory, told ČTK earlier.
The last time it was possible to observe the aurora borealis in the Czech Republic was last November.
