Northern lights possible in Missouri tonight, Geminids to flare up Sunday night

First, our Northern Light chances...

A powerful geomagnetic storm is headed to Earth due to a coronal mass ejection let out by the Sun which was detected early on Monday.

It sounds a lot scarier than it is... but it does have the potential to produce a vivid display of the Northern Lights across the northern United States tonight.

https://www.facebook.com/MissouriStormChasers/posts/4136524749695628

For us here in Missouri, it is POSSIBLE that we could see a some color on our horizon-- for the most part it would come through as a faint green glow.

This would occur between 9pm and 12am this evening!

An exuberant display of the phenomenon isn't likely in Missouri tonight.

Geminids Meteor Shower Sunday

What's expected to produce a bit more of a show will be the Geminid meteor shower expected to peak Sunday night into Monday morning. You'll have to stay up late for this one, as the best viewing is expected to occur between midnight and 5:00 am.

As always, with any space watching, get away from city lights/light pollution. It will give you a much better chance at a great show.

The Geminids are typically the most active meteor shower of the year, and astronomers have actually noticed an uptick in this event over the last several years. In areas that are far away from light, upwards of 120 to 160 meteors per hour are going to be possible!

You may be wondering... Why measure it in meteors per hour, and not just 2-3 meteors per minute?

Well, like most things in the science world, we can give pretty good broad estimations... but getting a perfect-minute-detail can be a bit challenging. Meteors typically fall in bunches so you may see good bit of downtime, followed by a flurry of activity. On average, expect that amount to occur in chunks over a 60 minute time-frame.

-Luke