Western Mass may see Northern Lights

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - When you think of the Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights, you think Alaska or Canada. Now, western Massachusetts has a chance to enjoy this phenomenon.

After a series of explosions on the sun, a tidal wave of charged particles is headed toward earth which will bring a chance of seeing the Northern Lights to western Massachusetts.

These charged particles interact with our atmosphere creating a shimmering, dancing white and green light in the night sky. While it's still very difficult to predict the location and intensity of these lights, there is at least a chance that we could see this effect during the next two or three nights.

While you won't need any special equipment to see these lights, there are some things you can do to help your chance of viewing them. "The best thing to do is to get away from city lights as far as possible, get somewhere where it's nice and dark and clear, there's no real best time to look they could happen at any time and last any length of time nobody really knows for sure," said Richard Sanderson, Astronomer at the Springfield Science Museum .

If you don't see any Northern Lights this week, don't worry. The sun is now beginning a period of more activity which will mean more chances for seeing the Northern Lights over the next few years.

Even if the lights do happen over us, the brightness of a full moon might stop us from getting a good peek.