Did you see it? Northern Lights visible in Oklahoma: Will we see them again tonight?

The northern lights were visible in Oklahoma on Thursday night thanks to a severe geomagnetic storm.

Oklahoma sat pretty far outside the forecasted view line of Thursday's aurora forecast by the Space Weather Prediction Center. The geomagnetic storm watch issued by the center Thursday was the second this year, when the aurora borealis was seen as far south as Alabama.

Aurora borealis forecast tonight through Friday. Will the northern lights be visible from Oklahoma?

An incoming geomagnetic storm hit the Earth on Thursday morning, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center .

The storm was expected to push the northern lights as far south as Alabama.

Aurora borealis map

Here's a map of the Aurora Borealis forecast created by the Space Weather Prediction Center, showing how far south the aurora might come tonight.

What time will the Northern Lights be visible?

During times of high geomagnetic activity, which pushes the northern lights further south, the aurora will be visible directly overhead in the northern United States, according to the prediction center .

For the best viewing, the center recommends that it be very dark. Get away from city lights and avoid trying to see them on the night of a full moon. The best time to view the aurora is within an hour or two of midnight, or 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

How to take pictures of the aurora borealis with an iPhone

If you're looking to get a photo of the northern lights, your cellphone camera should do the job. But you might need to make a couple of adjustments to the settings.

According to Travelfoss , to get the best image, you should adjust your iPhone to capture more light. Night mode will automatically turn on, which allows the camera sensor to stay open for 1 to 3 seconds, depending on the light. For the best image of the aurora, you should adjust that setting to its maximum of 10 seconds (or 30 seconds if you're using a tripod).

If there's too much ambient light, night mode might let in too much and overexpose your photos. To combat that, you might need to modify the exposure adjustment setting, per Travelfoss.

What's causing so many solar storms? The sun is nearing its solar cycle peak

The sun is becoming more active as it nears the peak of its current 11-year solar cycle, which began in 2019, according to NASA ,

As the peak (which is projected to happen in July 2025) nears, geomagnetic storms are more likely to occur. That, in turn, increases the chances that the aurora will be visible from the United States, Erica Grow Cei, meteorologist and spokesperson for the SWPC, previously told the Beacon Journal .

Following the peak, solar activity slows down, according to NASA, growing less and less until the solar minimum. At that point, a new solar cycle begins as solar activity rebounds.

What are the northern lights? How does the aurora borealis work?

Auroras are ribbons of light weaving across Earth's northern or southern polar regions, according to NASA . Magnetic storms that have been triggered by solar activity, such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections, cause them. The solar wind carries energetic charged particles from these events away from the sun.

These energized particles hit the atmosphere at 45 million mph and are redirected to the poles by the earth's magnetic field, according to Space.com , creating the light show.

During major geomagnetic storms, the auroras expand away from the poles and can be seen over some parts of the United States, according to the NOAA .

NOAA offers aurora dashboard

If you're curious about the latest forecast for the aurora, the NOAA has a tool for that. The Aurora Dashboard offers a visual, animated prediction of where the aurora might be seen in the next few minutes as well as the following day.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Did you see it? Northern Lights visible in Oklahoma: Will we see them again tonight?