MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — The aurora borealis graced the landscape here in the Mid-State this week, sending many running for their phones or marveling at the rare event.
“I stepped out the front door and saw them over my neighbor's house, and I was like, 'Oh! It was so bright, it looked so beautiful,'" said a local photographer, Colt Capperrune.
Ron Henderson, the chair of physics and astronomy at MTSU, says the northern lights appear when the sun flares — or exhibits explosions — raining particles down to Earth.
Every 11 years, there tends to be high activity like this. In the right conditions, when protons and electrons encounter oxygen, they manifest as gorgeous, sweeping colors painting the sky, even as far as Tennessee.
"What happens is, there's so many particles. They don't all get all used up in the North Pole; they start making it further and further south," explained Henderson. "So the more particles there are, the further south you get to see them."
It's special, even more so that experts are able to predict these events. The sun flare essentially gives them a heads up.
"Predicting is pretty cool, yeah. We're just lucky that protons and electrons are slow. If they got here too fast, we'd have to say, 'Oh, it's coming in 5 minutes,' but no. It's kind of nice we can say '1 to 3 days,'" said Henderson.
He predicts you'll be able to see the northern lights Wednesday night between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. and possibly Thursday night, too.
To see them, we suggest finding a place without much light pollution. You can find an interactive map on our website, showing where to go.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nikki.hauser@newschannel5.com.
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