Northern lights could be visible in Oklahoma tonight. Here's how to watch
The northern lights are caused by solar flares that reach Earth. When the flares get close enough to Earth's atmosphere, the planet's magnetic field protects us from the high-speed electrons and protons.
The magnetic field redirects the recent activity to the north and south poles, making it almost pertinent to view the lights immediately following the activity.
While Wednesday, July 16, had a higher likelihood of visibility, another coronal mass ejection is set to strike late on July 17. Here's what to expect for Monday night's light show.
More: Dazzling northern lights display captured on video: Watch enchanting time-lapse footage
Will the northern lights be visible in Oklahoma?
It's possible! Sunday night's light show was more active than predicted for Monday night, but active levels are still forecast for tonight.
According to the NOAA, geomagnetic activity is forecast to start at 6 p.m. CT. However, when the sun sets at 8:45 p.m., a peak is expected from 9 p.m. until midnight.
The best chance of seeing auroras late at night is to look north between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time, and away from city lights. This far south, the lights are best seen with a camera, even the one that comes equipped with your smartphone.
Although some maps and forecasts have predicted low visibility in southern states, some Oklahomans have still documented nights throughout the summer when they saw the lights in the late-night hours.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NOAA northern lights forecast: Will we see them in Oklahoma tonight?
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Next-generation destroyers to pack more missiles, energy weapons
The U.S. Navy is planning for its next-generation destroyer, currently known as the DDG(X), to feature directed-energy weapons and more capacity to carry and launch missiles. According to a report this month from the Congressional Research Service, the service is requesting $133.5 million in research and development in its proposed fiscal 2026 budget to manufacture the DDG(X), which it hopes to procure in the early 2030s. The design for the DDG(X) is larger than previous proposals, with the report noting that it now calls for the ship to have a displacement of 14,500 tons, representing a boost of 1,000 tons from the design put forth in the Navy's shipbuilding plan for fiscal 2024. The report questions how an enlarged design would be consistent with the Navy's stated aim of transitioning to a modernized fleet featuring smaller vessels. To modernize the fleet and cut costs, the Pentagon has been turning to autonomous vessels, and the Navy recently integrated small unmanned surface vessels into a major Baltic Sea exercise. The DDG(X) is intended to replace what are called 'Aegis destroyers,' which include the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. They are known as 'Aegis destroyers,' because they feature the Aegis Combat System, described by the Navy as 'the first fully integrated combat system built to defend against advanced air and surface threats.' The first version of the Aegis was operationally tested in 1973, and the first cruiser equipped with Aegis, the Ticonderoga, was commissioned in 1983. The Arleigh-Burke class came into being as a smaller destroyer featuring an updated Aegis system, with the first ship of this class commissioned in 1991. There are still 22 Ticonderoga-class cruisers procured between fiscal 1978 and 1988 in the U.S. fleet, including ships that entered service between 1983 and 1994. 'The Navy began retiring the remaining 22 ships in FY2022 and wants to retire all 22 by the end of FY2027,' according to the CRS report. Like past destroyer designs, the DDG(X) will feature elements of the Aegis combat system design. The DDG(X) will have increased cruising range and hold 96 standard Vertical Launch System cells, with an ability to replace 32 of these with 12 missile launch cells. It will also feature a power system able to support the deployment of directed energy weapons. These use electromagnetic energy to inflict damage and can include lasers, microwaves or particle beams. The Navy also hopes that the cruisers will produce less underwater noise while at sea, and thus have 'reduced vulnerability due to reduced infrared, acoustic and underwater electromagnetic signatures.'
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Don't Miss The Moon Eclipse The ‘Seven Sisters' This Weekend
The waxing crescent Moon in deep evening twilight with stars beginning to appear, with the Moon in ... More Taurus above the Pleiades cluster at right and below the Hyades and Aldebaran above This was March 31, 2017 from Cape Conran, West Cape area, on the Gippsland Coast of Victoria, Australia The Moon looks turned around from what we are used to seeing it in the northern hemisphere in the evening sky This is a stack of 8 exposures, mean combined to smooth noise, for the ground and one exposure for the sky An added Orton Effect gaussian blur layer adds the dreamy soft-focus effect for the ground Taken as part of a 700-frame time-lapse sequence. (Photo by: Alan Dyer/VW Pics/UIG via Getty Images) Universal Images Group via Getty Images Early risers in North America are in for a skywatching spectacle on Sunday, July 20, as two of the most beautiful objects in the night sky meet head-on. A waning crescent moon, just 24% lit, will appear to cross directly in front of the Pleiades star cluster (also known as M45 and the 'Seven Sisters') in what astronomers call an occultation, an appulse, or an eclipse. The rare event will be visible before sunrise across the U.S., Canada and parts of Mexico. From other parts of the world, the moon won't pass directly in front of the cluster, but it will still be unusually close. Sunday, July 20: Moon And The Pleiades Stellarium To catch the moon and the Pleiades together, you'll want to be outside between about 2:00 a.m. EDT when the pair rise in the east-northeast and 5:00 a.m. EDT when dawn breaks, according to During the event, the moon will pass in front of the brightest stars of the Pleiades, including Alcyone, the brightest, briefly blocking them before revealing them again. If you observe after about 3:00 a.m. EDT, you'll see Venus will rise below the pair. The entire spectacle is, of course, nothing more than a line-of-sight illusion. While the moon will be about 226,000 miles (364,000 kilometers) distant, the Pleiades is 445 light years. To put that in perspective, light from the moon will take just 1.3 seconds to reach your eyes. In contrast, light from the Pleiades takes 445 years — that's the late 16th century before telescopes were invented. This long exposure picture taken on December 23, 2017 shows the Pleiades, as seen from Bago, ... More Myanmar. (Credit: YE AUNG THU/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images All you need is an alarm clock and a clear view of the east-northeast horizon. The soft glow of the crescent moon in front of the star cluster will be a stunning spectacle — to the naked eye or through binoculars. Get up closer to dawn the following morning, July 21, and you'll see the moon below the Pleiades, making a four-pointed shape with Venus and Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus. Later this month, the Delta Aquariid meteor shower will peak around July 30. For exact timings, use a sunrise and sunset calculator for where you are, Stellarium Web for a sky chart and Night Sky Tonight: Visible Planets at Your Location for positions and rise/set times for planets. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' gives US Space Force $1 billion for secretive X-37B space plane
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. U.S. President Trump's "One, Big Beautiful Bill Act," H.R. 1 includes $1 billion for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) X-37B military spacecraft program. The largely classified X-37B – also called the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) program – carried out its seventh mission, landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on March 7, touching down after 434 days in orbit. As for how that $1 billion would be spent, and when the next X-37B would depart, reached out to the space plane's builder, Boeing. We received a "thank you for the query" in response, and an inquiry-altering note to contact the Air Force for comment on the X-37 schedule and budget. Space test platform "The USSF X-37B program supports technology risk reduction, experimentation, and operational concept development for future re-usable space vehicles," responded USAF Colonel Lori Astroth, Public Affairs Deputy Director for Space within the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs at the Pentagon. The X-37B program "serves as a flexible space test platform to conduct various experiments that can be transported to space and returned to Earth," Col. Astroth added. "Further information regarding X-37B's cost and budget information is not releasable." Highly elliptical orbit That last hush-hush flight of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-7 (OTV-7) featured the craft being hurled into a highly elliptical high Earth orbit via a Falcon Heavy rocket back on December 28, 2023. After aerobraking to a low Earth orbit and completing its test and experimentation objectives, the space plane successfully performed its deorbit and landing procedures. As did the previous (OTV-6) space plane trek, OTV-7 also involved a service module that expanded the capabilities of the spacecraft. "The successful completion of the novel aerobraking maneuver demonstrated the agile and flexible capabilities the X-37B provides the United States Space Force," according to the statement issued by the Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs. The aerobraking technique entails use of atmospheric drag over the course of multiple passes to change orbits while expending minimal fuel. "While on orbit, Mission 7 accomplished a range of test and experimentation objectives intended to demonstrate the X-37B's robust maneuver capability while helping characterize the space domain through the testing of space domain awareness technology experiments," the statement notes. Flight roster Here's a listing of previous flights of the space plane: OTV-1: launched on April 22, 2010 and landed on December 3, 2010, spending over 224 days on orbit. OTV-2: launched on March 5, 2011 and landed on June 16, 2012, spending over 468 days on orbit. OTV-3: launched on December 11, 2012 and landed on October 17, 2014, spending over 674 days on-orbit. OTV-4: launched on May 20, 2015 and landed on May 7, 2015, spending nearly 718 days on-orbit. OTV-5: launched on September 7, 2017 and landed on October 27, 2019, spending nearly 780 days on-orbit. OTV-6: launched on May 17, 2020 and landed on November 12, 2022, circling Earth for 908 days. OTV-7: lofted on December 28, 2023 and touched down on March 7, 2025, circling Earth for 434 days. First use technologies The builder of the vehicle, Boeing, has previously noted that the X-37B makes use of several 'first use in space' technologies including: Avionics designed to automate all de-orbit and landing functions. Flight controls and brakes using all electro-mechanical actuation; no hydraulics on board. Use of a lighter composite structure, rather than traditional aluminum. New generation high-temperature wing leading-edge tiles and toughened uni-piece fibrous refractory oxidation-resistant ceramic (TUFROC) tiles and advanced conformal reusable insulation (CRI) blankets. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology, the Space Force is utilizing the X-37B system as an on-orbit testbed to try out new technologies, to better understand similar adversarial platforms and to design new training environments, citing comments to the publication in January by Chief of Space Operations General Chance Saltzman. Solve the daily Crossword
