Northern lights in Michigan: You may see them again tonight across the state

Michiganders — and sky watchers in other parts of North America — got a glimpse of the northern lights Thursday night, which space prediction scientists have said is more likely this year than others because the sun is at the peak of its activity cycle.

If you missed them, you could try again Friday night .

Or just look at all the photos of the phenomenon, which are all over social media.

More: How to take a picture of the northern lights with your phone

The aurora borealis or northern lights in, of course, the north, and aurora australis, or southern lights, in, well, the south, are a natural light display in the sky. Usually, they are visible closest to the poles, but sometimes, as they were Thursday, can be seen closer to the equator.

Sightings Thursday night were as far south as Kentucky.

One national news report, it turns out, focused on a 37-year-old New Yorker, Gabriela Aguilar, who told t he New York Times , that as a girl in Michigan, she went looking for the lights in the Upper Peninsula, but never found them until Thursday.

In New York, the heavens danced with colors — pinks, purples and greens — as Aguilar and her dog, Gomez, looked up.

For many, seeing the lights is on the bucket list.

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Long before people understood the lights, they told stories to explain what occurred.

In Michigan, the Algonquin believed that the creator lit a celestial fire to let his people know that even though he was far away, he was still thinking of them. The aurora, that Native American culture said, was a reflection of that flame.

According to modern science, the lights are caused by solar winds, what scientists would call disturbances in the Earth’s magnetosphere, and result in the heavenly show.

In recent years, the lights likely seem more visible, in part, because astronomers have gotten better at predicting them, and news publications like the Free Press, have been more diligent about reporting on them before — and after — they appear.

Other technology has helped make them more visible, too.

Phone cameras sometimes can capture the lights in photos and videos better than the human eye.  Social media makes pictures of the lights accessible to everyone and everywhere and preserves them for what seems like forever.

And on top of that, there’s also timing.

Scientists have found that about every 11 years, there’s more magnetic solar activity, which cases sunspots and the lights. It’s now the height of that cycle, what explanatory news site Vox, called a " rambunctious year for space weather ."

If the sky is cloudless on Friday, the optimal time to see the lights is within an hour or two of midnight.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Northern lights in Michigan: You may see them again tonight across the state