Why are we seeing the aurora so often these days?

DEDHAM, Mass. — A phenomenon that once seemed unattainable in Southern New England appears to be occurring far more often these days.

So, how rare is the aurora anyway? Since the start of 2024, it seems like we’ve had a legitimate chance to see it every few months! Before then, it was a rare sight locally, in person and in pictures. Believe it or not, there is an explanation for this, and two big changes stand out.

Solar Cycles

Similar to seasons, the sun goes through regular periods of high and low activity. In fact, this occurs in relatively quick 11-year cycles! In late 2024, the sun reached the peak of it’s current cycle (solar maximum) and has been more active in ejecting massive bursts of charged particles towards Earth. When these particles interact with our planet’s magnetic field, the aurora occurs. Thus, the northern lights really HAVE been out more often recently. But that’s just half of the story...

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Timing & Tech

It’s no question that life today, is a bit different than it was in the early 2010s... and even more so than the early 2000s! Of course, those timeframes coincide with the most recent solar maximums.

In the early 2000s, smart phones did not exist. Often with aurora, the light is too dim to see with the naked eye, but our smart phones (and DSLRs) can & will pick up the light. Thus, we may have seen it just as frequently as today, but we certainly CAPTURED it less! Not to mention, social media was not around yet, so those bright green & pink pictures in circulation would have reached just a sliver of the audience they’re able to today.

But what about the early 2010s? Well for starters, this happened to be one of the LEAST active solar cycles in the past 100+ years for records. Beyond this, smart phone cameras were nowhere near the quality we’re used to today. Even with the tech in our hard, it would have been difficult for viewers to snap a good picture. Social media would have helped spread the word, but certainly not to today’s standard either.

Bottom Line

So is the aurora occurring in our Southern New England sky more frequently? In the short term, of course! That’s just science. But in the long term, our technological advancements much better explain the increase in sightings.

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