Bavaria's northern lights illuminate: a heavenly spectacle on the New Year!

Bavaria's northern lights illuminate: a heavenly spectacle on the New Year!

On New Year's evening 2025, people in Bavaria offered themselves a fascinating natural spectacle: the northern lights lit up the sky. According to Merkur was the best time to observe this impressive phenomenon, around 6 p.m. Polar lights have already been seen in the past few months, most recently in May and October 2024. Usually, these lights occur primarily in the polar regions.

Bernhard Buchner, the head of the Munich Volkssternwarte, reported that the sun was currently particularly active, which contributes to the visibility of the Northern Lights. The first Northern Lights of the New Year were spotted in Markt Schwaben. Reddish Northern Lights are better noticeable in Bavaria, as they arise at a height of about 200 kilometers, while green polar lights are lower and are therefore heavier to see. Northern lights arise from solar storms that spin electrically charged particles into space. These particles bounce onto the earth's magnetic field and make the air shine.

weather conditions and solar activity

To see the northern lights well, the sky should be clear and cloudless and there should be a clear view to the north. Light pollution in urban areas in particular can affect the view of the lights. While the likelihood of further northern lights in the coming days is low, solar activity remains high, whereby sun spots still exist. However, it is pointed out that solar activity will decrease in the next few years, which reduces the chances of the visibility of polar lights. A solar cycle lasts about eleven years, which makes it difficult to predict northern lights.

A connection between the northern lights and solar activity is not new. In 2014 there were numerous sun events, including five flare in class X, which were associated with strong magnetic activities. According to sonnensturm.info in an active region that was ideally for coronal mass stirs towards earth. Such mass stiries can trigger northern lights up to medium latitudes. Interestingly, after the strong Flares from the region in 2192, no mass outline was found, which meant that the observed northern lights failed.

-transmitted by West-Ost-Medien