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How to See Solar Flares in the Northern U.S.

Solar flares are ejections of matter ejected by the sun at near the speed of light. These ejections produce the energy of thousands of atomic bombs all at once, and this energy travels to Earth affecting satellites and radio communication and producing the northern lights. To see solar flares from the northern U.S., use two sheets of construction paper to create a sun silhouette, look at the sun with a telescope using a sun lens, load videos from the NASA website, or use a telescope to view the aurora borealis.

Things You'll Need

Telescope with sun lens
Two sheets of black construction paper

Instructions

- 1
  
  A solar eclipse in March or September makes it easier to see solar flares.
  
  Use two sheets of construction paper during a solar eclipse to view the solar flares projecting from the moon silhouette. Put a pin-sized hole in one sheet of construction paper and hold it against the light of the solar eclipse and focus it by moving it at different distance from the other sheet. Use a magnifying glass to view the edges of the moon to see the movement which represents active solar activity. Movement at the edges represent solar flares.
- 2
  
  A telescope aids in viewing sun flares directly as they happen.
  
  Look at the sun directly with a telescope using high-powered magnification and a sun-flitered lens. The higher your magnification, the more likely you will see sun flares. Observe the sun for at least 30 minutes to an hour to give yourself a chance. The surface of the sun will appear moving anyway; a solar flare will appear like a brief jump of light into the peripheral space.
- 3
  
  Solar energy polarizes the Earth's plasma on a regular basis.
  
  Observe minor solar flares from the northern U.S. (northern Washington and Alaska) by painting the telescope at the night sky and resolving to the level of the charged ionosphere. This layer is sensitive to minor fluctuations in the sun's activity, and thus small solar flares will ignite this plasma regularly, but the distance of events from each other and their infrequency in more southern latitudes (south of Canada) means that they have to be detected by more sensitive telescopes in this region.
- 4
  
  Alaska is the best place to observe solar flares striking the ionsophere's plasma.
  
  Go to Fairbanks Alaska and stay for at least three days, which is the recommended time for seeing what is called the aurora borealis with the naked eye from the ground. These lights are the brightest and most intense observable effect of solar flares. Plan on making three full nights of night-time sky watching at least one hour per night, preferably between 9 pm. and 10 p.m.
- 5
  
  The NASA website follows the sun's activity and posts it online every 48 hours.
  
  Go to the NASA website and see the sun's activity over the last 48 hours. When viewing the short video, the white flashes represent solar flares, and these send out charged particles some of which strike the Earth's ionosphere, which in turn creates what is called the northern lights.

Astronomy