Missed Northern Lights magic? Here's when you may see next Aurora Borealis

Last week, parts of the world witnessed the stunning aurora borealis, also known as the Northern Lights. If you missed it, there's a chance they could appear again as early as next month. The Northern Lights happen when charged particles from the sun travel through space and collide with Earth’s atmosphere, creating beautiful light displays. 

Recently, a large cluster of sunspots released energy and gas towards Earth. Scientists expect this cluster to rotate back towards us in about two weeks, and it might still be active enough to cause more solar explosions, leading to more Northern Lights.

Since Saturday, the Sun has been emitting high levels of radiation. A significant solar flare on Tuesday disrupted high-frequency radio communications worldwide. This active sunspot is part of the Sun’s 11-year cycle, known as the "solar maximum," when solar activity is at its peak.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that last weekend’s Northern Lights were caused by a big solar storm. This storm resulted from multiple solar flares merging into a massive burst of solar plasma. 

According to a BBC report, Sean Elvidge, a space environment professor at the University of Birmingham, stated that this geomagnetic storm was a once-in-30-year event, the most significant since 2003. It was triggered by at least five coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are giant bursts of charged particles from the Sun. These CMEs took about 18 hours to reach Earth, interacting with our magnetic field.