The winter night skies will feature some major meteor showers, and possibly another sighting of the northern lights, according to officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, are a dazzling display of red and green hues created when a severe geomagnetic storm erupts from the sun.
The northern lights were visible in the region and all over New York state and beyond in October.
Shawn Dahl, a service coordinator with the NOAA, said the possibility of seeing the northern lights over the continental United States remains high, as we are now in what is known as solar maximum of solar cycle 25.
“What that means is we anticipate having additional solar storms known as geomagnetic storms that could lead to aurora manifestation at lower latitudes than normal,” Dahl said.
“This escalated period of solar activity will likely continue through the year 2025 and even perhaps into early 2026,” Dahl added. “Because of solar maximum, additional associated and related solar storm chances will be elevated for solar flares, sunspot groups and more.”
Meteor shower could be visible in December
Dahl, who is an avid amateur and backyard astronomer and enthusiast, said another highlight of the winter sky will be meteor showers.
While it is possible to see a random meteor on any given night, there are several times during the year when large numbers of them appear together in groups, known as showers, that occur when the earth passes through streams of cosmic debris.
Dahl said a major shower, called the Geminids because they appear to focus around the constellation Gemini (the twins), will peak around Dec. 13-14.
“The Geminids can often reach near 100 meteors per hour at peak,” Dahl said. “Many are faint, but often there are plenty that are bright enough to see visually under the darkest and most favorable conditions”
Why early January could be best time to see meteor shower
Another meteor shower, the Quadrantids, will peak on the night of Jan. 2-3. A crescent moon will set before they reach their peak that night, providing a darker sky for better viewing.
They have the potential to be the strongest shower of the year, but usually fall short because their peak period is only six hours long and weather conditions in early January are often poor, according to the American Meteor Society.
Dahl said the winter skies also feature some “very interesting and amazing constellations,” including Orion, a hunter from Greek mythology, which features a distinctive belt of three stars, two bright stars and what Dahl calls a “wonderous nebula.”
It is prominent in the southern sky, as is the constellation Taurus the Bull, which includes a star cluster known as the Pleiades forming the tip of one of its horns.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com.
