Canadians are hoping to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights on Wednesday night. People from coast-to-coast, and as far south as Florida, got a dazzling display on Tuesday. Now the northern hemisphere is in for a repeat performance. “Occasionally we get these big flares or eruptions that happen on the surface of the sun and throw out lots of particles into space,” explained Roan Haggar with the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics. “These fly through space and hit the Earth’s magnetic field. When that happens, it produces all of these lights that we see up in the sky.” Any increase in solar activity can impact what we see in the night sky. “The sun goes through these periods of being very active and then very calm over a period of about 11 years or so. Right now, in 2025, we’re at the peak of that,” Roan said. Another factor is the different gases in our atmosphere. “The green and red aurora that we see are caused by oxygen getting hit by these particles,” Roan continued. “We get different colours when things like nitrogen in the atmosphere get hit by these, this radiation from the sun, as well.” Sky-watchers shouldn’t need any extra equipment to see the light show. “When it comes to aurora and the supermoon, comets and meteor showers, binoculars work quite well,” said Brian Dernesch, owner of KW Telescope. “You really don’t need anything to look at an aurora.” “If you take a picture on night mode on your camera, then you should be able to see the Northern Lights,” suggested Roan. Telescopes do, however, offer a closer look at the phenomenon. “You have to collect enough light,” Dernesch said. “When you hook a camera to a telescope, it changes everything.” The forecast shows quite a bit of cloud cover in southern Ontario on Wednesday night, but we will get plenty more chances as the sun will be at the peak of its cycle next year.
