does light travel in straight lines

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How to Prove That Light Travels in a Straight Path

Last Updated: April 24, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Chris Hasegawa, PhD . Dr. Chris Hasegawa was a Science Professor and the Dean at California State University Monterey Bay. Dr. Hasegawa specializes in teaching complex scientific concepts to students. He holds a BS in Biochemistry, a Master’s in Education, and his teaching credential from The University of California, Davis. He earned his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Oregon. Before becoming a professor, Dr. Hasegawa conducted biochemical research in Neuropharmacology at the National Institute of Health. He also taught physical and life sciences and served as a teacher and administrator at public schools in California, Oregon, and Arizona. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 212,204 times.

Light is an essential part of your day. It allows you to see objects, shapes, and colors. In fact, the pupils in your eyes filter in light to help you see everything around you. As part of a school assignment, you may be asked to prove that light travels in a straight line. You can do this using basic household items in three easy experiments.

Making a Light Pinhole

• Three index cards.
• A piece of modeling clay or sticky tack. You can also use double sided tape.

• A hole puncher.

• Take the hole puncher and punch a hole at the center of the card where the two lines intersect. Do this for the other two cards.

• Form a stand for the cards using the clay so the cards are straight and upright. Use the ruler to ensure the cards are two to five inches from each other.
• You can also use double sided tape to attach the cards to a surface in a vertical position. Do not cover or obstruct the hole in the center of the cards with modeling clay or tape.

• Note that the light can be seen through all the holes. You should be able to see the light go through all the holes and land on a wall or surface beyond the last index card.

Using a Mirror and a Flashlight

• Two to three sheets of black paper.
• Small objects like buttons, bottle caps, or dimes.

• The other person will use the small mirror to reflect the flashlight so it hits the objects. Move close to the light, at an angle, to catch the light so it hits the objects.
• You may need to position more than one mirror to create a light path that shines on the objects. Play around with reflecting the light on the mirrors until the light hits the objects. You can also move the objects around the room to create a more complicated light path, using the flashlight as the light source.
• This experiment shows that light travels in a straight line in the air. But it also bounces off of a reflective surface, like a mirror. The angle of the light as it bounces off the mirror will be the same as the angle of the light as it hits the mirror. The mirror reflects the light and changes its path from a straight line to an angled straight line.

Using Water and Oil

• A large glass jar.
• Access to water.
• One cup of oil.

• Make sure the jar is large enough to fit the ruler.

• Note that the numbers appear stretched or magnified as the light rays bend in the oil and the water. Move the ruler from side to side to note the different appearances of the ruler numbers in the oil and in the water.
• This will show that light travels at different speeds in different mediums, such as air, oil, and water. It will travel in a straight line in the air, but it will bend when it changes speed due to contact with a certain medium, like oil or water.

Expert Q&A

Things You'll Need

• A piece of modeling clay or sticky tack. You can also use tape.
• A flashlight or a laser pointer.
• A flashlight.
• A small mirror.

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://www.ducksters.com/science/experiment_light_travel.php
• ↑ Chris Hasegawa, PhD. Retired Science Professor & Dean. Expert Interview. 29 July 2021.
• ↑ https://www.science-sparks.com/science-fair-projects-light-maze/
• ↑ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/now-you-see-it-testing-out-light-refraction/

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Light is a form of energy produced by a light source. Light is made of photons that travel very fast. Photons of light behave like both waves and particles.

Light sources

Something that produces light is called a light source. There are two main kinds of light sources:

Fireworks show how light travels faster than sound. We see the light almost instantly, but the sound arrives later. To work out how many kilometres away the fireworks are, count the seconds until you hear the bang and divide by 3.

Incandescent sources use heat to produce light. Nearly all solids, liquids and gases will start to glow with a dull red colour once they reach a temperature of about 525 °C. At about 2300 °C, the filament in a light bulb will start to produce all of the colours of the visible spectrum, so it will look white. The Sun, stars, a flame and molten metal are all incandescent.

Luminescent sources are normally cooler and can be produced by chemical reactions, such as in a glowstick or a glow-worm. Other luminescent sources include a computer screen, fluorescent lights and LEDs.

Light travels much faster than sound

Light travels at a speed of 299,792,458 m/s (that’s nearly 300,000 km/s!). The distance around the Earth is 40,000 km, so in 1 second, light could travel seven and a half times around the world.

Sound only travels at about 330 m/s through the air, so light is nearly a million times faster than sound.

If lightning flashes 1 kilometre away from you, the light reaches you in 3 millionths of a second, which is almost instantly. The sound of the thunder takes 3 seconds to travel 1 kilometre – to work out many kilometres away lightning is, count the seconds for the thunder to arrive and divide by 3.

Lightning storms are important for converting nitrogen gas in the atmosphere through to forms that are biologically available.

Light takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach the Earth from the Sun. When we see the Sun, we are seeing what it looked like over 8 minutes ago.

Light can travel through empty space

Unlike sound, which needs a medium (like air or water) to travel through, light can travel in the vacuum of space.

Light travels in straight lines

Once light has been produced, it will keep travelling in a straight line until it hits something else.

Shadows are evidence of light travelling in straight lines. An object blocks light so that it can’t reach the surface where we see the shadow. Light fills up all of the space before it hits the object, but the whole region between the object and the surface is in shadow. Shadows don’t appear totally dark because there is still some light reaching the surface that has been reflected off other objects.

Once light has hit another surface or particles, it is then absorbed, reflected (bounces off), scattered (bounces off in all directions), refracted (direction and speed changes) or transmitted (passes straight through).

Models for light

Wave length, height and frequency

A wave can be described by its length, height (amplitude) and frequency.

Light as waves

Rainbows and prisms can split white light up into different colours. Experiments can be used to show that each of these colours has a different wavelength.

When white light shines through a prism, each colour refracts at a slightly different angle. Violet light refracts slightly more than red light. A prism can be used to show the seven colours of the spectrum that make up white light.

At the beach, the wavelength of water waves might be measured in metres, but the wavelength of light is measured in nanometres – 10 -9 (0.000,000,001) of a metre. Red light has a wavelength of nearly 700 nm (that’s 7 ten-thousandths of a millimetre) while violet light is only 400 nm (4 ten-thousandths of a millimetre).

Visible light is only a very small part of the electromagnetic spectrum – it’s just that this is the range of wavelengths our eyes can detect.

Light as particles

In 1905, Albert Einstein proposed that light is made of billions of small packets of energy that we now call photons. These photons have no mass, but each photon has a specific amount of energy that depends on its frequency (number of vibrations per second). Each photon still has a wavelength. Shorter wavelength photons have more energy.

The photoelectric effect

University of Waikato science researcher Dr Adrian Dorrington explains the photoelectric effect. He then describes how camera sensors can be designed on the basis of this effect to enable light energy to be converted into electric potential energy.

The photoelectric effect is when light can cause electrons to jump out of a metal. These experiments confirm that light is made of these massless particles called photons.

Simple explanations of some of these concepts can be found in the article Building Science Concepts: Shadows .

Nature of science

In order to understand the world we live in, scientists often use models. Sometimes, several models are needed to explain the properties and behaviours of a phenomenon. For example, to understand the behaviour of light, two models are needed. Light needs to be thought of as both waves and particles.

Useful links

Even though light doesn’t have mass, learn how it still has a tiny amount of momentum. Find out about NASA’s solar sails to power spacecraft.

Read about the LightSail project, a crowdfunded project from The Planetary Society, aiming to demonstrate that solar sailing is a viable means of propulsion for CubeSats (miniature satellites intended for low Earth orbit).

Explore solar sails more in your classroom, with this activity Solar Sails: The Future of Space Travel from the TeachEngineering website.

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Why Does Light Travel in a Straight Line?

Most recent answer: 11/20/2010

(published on 11/20/2010)

Follow-Up #1: gravity bending light

Yes. Light from a torch is just like any other light. Astronomers routinely see evidence of light being bent by gravity.

(published on 03/08/2018)

Follow-up on this answer

Related Questions

• magnetism and gravity in the cosmos
• Questions about nebulae
• How do we know that half of the Galaxies are not Anti-matter?
• Bending light with gravity
• How do we know a galaxy or star is 13 billion light years away?
• Is cosmic microwave background from old galaxies?
• Is there a danger of a GRB striking the earth or sun?
• Rotation of galaxies
• Do we feel acceleration in an accelerating universe?
• Can stars exist independently of galaxies ?

Still Curious?

Expore Q&As in related categories

• The Rest of the Universe

• Light Travels In a Straight Line

Light travels in a straight line can be observed by keeping an object in the path of light. In an atmosphere which is bit dusty, we can see light traveling in a straight line. Light emerging from the torch, train and lamps always travel in a straight line. Let us study in detail how does light travel in a straight line.

Suggested Videos

Light travels along a straight line.

Life without light would have been pretty dull. Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. You must have observed that in your house that whenever a beam of light enters a dark room through a tiny hole in the window, the lightwave always travels in a straight line.

Let us carry out a small activity to show that lightwave travels along a straight line. Take three CD’s and align them together. Align them in such a way that all the CD’s line in a straight line. Now take a candle and place it at the other end. Do make sure that the tip of the candle and the holes of the CD’s all lie in the straight line. Ensure that the height of the CD’s and the tip of the candle are same. Observe the flame of the candle. We are able to see the flame of the candle because the light wave travels through the holes and reaches our eye.

Browse more Topics under Light

• Reflection of Light
• Sunlight – White or Coloured
• Images Formed By Lenses

Now if suppose we displace the center of the CD’s we observe that we are not able to see the flame of the candle. Why does that happen? This is because the light gets blocked. If the light could have the ability to take a curve and travel, we could have seen the lightwave. But since light travels in a straight line, we were unable to see the flame of the candle when the CD is displaced. This proves that light travels along a straight line.

(Source: Wikipedia)

In the above picture, we can clearly see that light coming through the holes in the window travel along a straight line.

Questions For You

Q1. The phenomenon in which the moon’s shadow falls on earth,  or the earth casts its shadow on the moon, is known as

• Lateral deviation

Answer: C. The phenomenon in which the moon’s shadow falls on earth or the earth casts its shadow on the moon is known as an eclipse. During a solar eclipse, moon’s shadow falls on the earth. During a lunar eclipse, earth’s shadow falls on the moon.

Q2. Two examples of non-luminous objects are

• Stars and Moon
• Burning candle, glowing bulb
• The moon, a spoon
• Stars, a spoon

Answer: C. Non-luminous objects are those that do not emit light. The moon and the spoon do not emit light. So these two are good examples of non-luminous objects.

Q3. We can see the objects only when

• Reflected light from the object reaches our eye.
• The objects absorb all the light.
• When the objects allow all the light to pass through them.
• None of these.

Answer: A. Objects can only be seen when light falls on the object and are reflected back to our eyes.

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Bridge Course Class 7th Science

Course: bridge course class 7th science   >   unit 4, light travels in a straight line.

• Light and its Characteristics

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Video transcript.

Does Light Travel in a Straight Line? Can It Be Bent?

Last Updated on Jan 27 2023

A basic principle of physics states that light travels in a straight line. It’s easy to prove, too. Simply shine a light through a parallel series of openings and it will pass through each one successively. You can also see it in real-time when looking at shadows. The division between the lighted area in the background and the object obstructing the light follows the perimeter. 

Keep reading to learn more about how light travels and more pertinent information regarding the subject.

• Light vs. Sound

We can learn more about the properties of light by comparing it to another intangible force: sound. Sound is variable, depending on what it’s traveling through it and its temperature. At 59℉ at sea level, it will go 761.2 miles per h our (mph) . That may sound fast until you start delving into Albert Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity . Essentially, nothing can exceed the speed of light.

While sound is moving around at 761.2 mph, light is zipping along at a blazing 983,571,056 feet or 186,282 miles per second. It’s worth noting that this measurement is in a vacuum. Light sound, the medium—in this case, air—can affect its speed.

We can put the two properties in perspective with lightning and thunder. Remember that that bolt is moving 186,282 miles per second. The thunder is lagging behind at 1,100 feet per second . Both are moving at a constant speed, making it easy to calculate the distance between the lightning and the clap of thunder. Count the seconds between the two and divide by five to get the number of miles away.

If you’ve seen lightning strike, you’ll notice it’s following a straight path, although it may come at an angle. However, does that mean that light never deviates from this course? The answer is no.

• Scattering the Light

If you’ve seen light shine through a cloud of dust, you may notice that it’s traveling in different directions. That’s the variations in the air medium changing with the suspended particles. Another classic example involves putting an object like a spoon in a glass of water. It will look like it’s bent. What you’re seeing is the difference between traveling through air and water.

Air is composed primarily of nitrogen, oxygen, water, and carbon dioxide. Of course, water is hydrogen and oxygen. However, there’s also the glass, which adds another factor to the mix. A prism will have a similar effect by refracting light into its various colors. However, we still have to dig a bit deeper. All things being equal, can light ever bend on its own?

• Bending Light

Scientists thought that they had solved these riddles until they discovered the Airy waveform in the late 1970s. Researchers found that light could bend ever so slightly. Next, fast forward to 2012. The reason behind the discovery is based on heavy-duty mathematics and physics . Suffice to say that self-bending light is possible, opening up opportunities to use it for various purposes, such as redirecting lasers.

It might not be something that you would ever need to do. However, it does answer some questions. So, yes, light can travel in a straight line and also bend.

• Final Thoughts

Understanding how light and sound travel tells us a lot about physics, mathematics, and science. It also shows us how much we have yet to learn about our planet and its place in the Solar System . While light does travel in a straight line, there are also times when it can bend.

• https://www.livescience.com/37022-speed-of-sound-mach-1.html
• https://www.space.com/36273-theory-special-relativity.html
• https://www.space.com/15830-light-speed.html
• https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/sound2.html
• http://tornado.sfsu.edu/geosciences/classes/m201/Atmosphere/AtmosphericComposition.html
• https://www.britannica.com/technology/prism-optics
• https://www.science.org/content/article/light-bends-itself
• https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.163901

Featured Image Credit: donatas1205, Shutterstock

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About the Author Chris Dinesen Rogers

Chris has been writing since 2009 on a variety of topics. Her motto with all of her writing is “science-based writing nurtured by education and critical thinking.” Chris specializes in science topics and has a special love for health and environmental topics, and animals of all shapes and sizes.

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• Light Travels in Straight Line

An Introduction

Light is one form of energy that plays a vital role in our life. We cannot imagine a world full of darkness. Light makes our vision possible and enhances the beauty of everything around us. Light is playing an important role in both art and science. Light is one of the important tools in science that helps scientists to observe things around the world.

Some theories of science are saying it is particles and some of them are saying light is a wave . If the light is a wave, how does light travel and what is the medium of propagation? Light travels in a straight line. The straight-line path of light is very much evident when light travels through a dusty atmosphere. In this article, we will be discussing the straight line motion of light.

How does Light Travel?

Light can travel through both in a medium and in a vacuum . But in a vacuum, there will not be any particles light can not reflect by hitting it. Hence, in a vacuum, light is invisible. In air, light can be reflected by hitting dust or some other particles, hence light is visible in the air.

Light can be considered as waves. Light waves travel in different wavelengths and depending on the wavelength, different light has different colours. For example, the high wavelength light in visible light has a red colour and the shortest wavelength of light has a violet colour. Being a wave light can show properties of waves such as interference and diffraction .

The answer to the question of how light normally travels is that light travels in a straight line. But the actual answer is light seems to travel in a straight line because of the smaller diffraction effect of light. Diffraction is the bending of waves around an object such that it spreads out and illuminates an area where a shadow is expected.

For light, the wavelength is in the order of nanometers. This wavelength is too small and obstacles of this size cannot be determined by our naked eyes. Hence, we feel that light travels along a straight line. The straight-line motion of light is also called rectilinear propagation of light .

Experiment for the Straight Line Motion of Light

Since the diffraction effect of light is too small, normally light travels along a straight line. By using a simple experimental setup, we can prove that light travels along a straight line.

Place three cardboard sheets back to back in front of a candle on the tabletop. Make sure that the cardboard sheets and the candles are placed in a straight line. Light the candle and make a pinhole on each cardboard sheet. The holes should be made at equal height such that the flame of the candle is visible through them. Now look through the holes and observe light travels in which line. The light flame will be visible along the straight line of holes. Now move one of the cardboard sheets to either side and observe the flame. Can you see the flame? On moving the cardboard sheet, the flame will not be visible. Now, again place the cardboard sheet back in its position. The flame is visible now.

From this experiment, we can conclude that light travels along a straight line and this experiment diagram is given below.

Examples of Straight Line Motion of Light

Light travels in straight line examples are as follows:.

Light comes out from a torch or train or lamp follows a straight line path.

A straight line path of light is visible when Sunlight comes out through the small holes in a dusty atmosphere.

When we place any opaque object in front of the object, we observe that the object will be invisible. It is because light cannot bend through the corners of the opaque object.

Interesting Facts

Sunlight can reach a depth of 80m in the ocean.

Paul Dirac proposed a theory in explaining the dual nature of light in 1927.

Particles of light are called photons.

The scientist Euclid Catoptrics in 280 BC found light travels in straight-line inhomogeneous media.

Key Features

Light travels along a straight line.

The straight-line motion of light is due to its small diffraction effects.

Light comes out from the train, torch, and lamp are examples of straight line motion of light.

FAQs on Light Travels in Straight Line

1. What is rectilinear propagation of light?

Light travels along a straight line. The straight-line motion of light is called rectilinear propagation of light.

2. Explain why light travels in a straight line?

Light is a wave exhibiting the property of diffraction. The phenomenon of diffraction is observed only if the wavelength of the wave matches the size of the particle it collides with. Light has wavelengths in the order of nanometers. Usually, an object of nanometer size can not be seen by the naked eye. Hence, the diffraction effect of light is too small to be considered. So, light appears to travel along a straight line.

3. Why is light invisible in a vacuum?

Light can travel through a vacuum. Since in a vacuum there are no particles, light can not reflect. Hence, light is invisible in a vacuum.

How does light travel in a straight line?

Explanation: light moves in a straight line, as any physics student is aware. but now, scientists have demonstrated that light can curve without any outside help. although the researchers claim it might be used in real-world applications like remotely controlling items with light, the result is essentially an optical illusion. the main reason why light moves in straight lines are because it is a wave and prefers to travel the smallest distance between the two points. light, however, can diverge from a straight trajectory when it strikes certain obstructions. diffraction is a popular name for this phenomenon. light is frequently considered to move in a straight line since diffraction has such a negligible effect in the real life..

Light travels in a straight line.

Why does light appear to travel in a straight line?

Under what special conditions, light does not travel in a straight line?

• 3 index cards
• small piece of modeling clay or sticky tack
• hole puncher
• science journal
• For each index card, use a ruler to draw lines connecting opposite corners of the card.
• At the intersection of the two lines, use a hole puncher to punch a hole in the center of the index cards.
• For each card, use a small piece of modeling clay and place the card into the clay to create a "stand" for the card. Place the cards so that they stand vertically and at an equal distance from each other. See Diagram.
• Place the flashlight at one end of the row of index cards and turn off the light in the room.
• Arrange the index cards so that light can be seen through all the holes.
• Observe and record your observations.
• How can light be seen through all the index cards?
• What does the experiment prove about the path light travels?
• What would happen if the holes were smaller?

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The huge solar storm is keeping power grid and satellite operators on edge

Geoff Brumfiel

Willem Marx

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of solar flares early Saturday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm. Solar Dynamics Observatory hide caption

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of solar flares early Saturday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm.

Planet Earth is getting rocked by the biggest solar storm in decades – and the potential effects have those people in charge of power grids, communications systems and satellites on edge.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm that has been visible as aurora across vast swathes of the Northern Hemisphere. So far though, NOAA has seen no reports of major damage.

The Picture Show

Photos: see the northern lights from rare, solar storm.

There has been some degradation and loss to communication systems that rely on high-frequency radio waves, NOAA told NPR, as well as some preliminary indications of irregularities in power systems.

"Simply put, the power grid operators have been busy since yesterday working to keep proper, regulated current flowing without disruption," said Shawn Dahl, service coordinator for the Boulder, Co.-based Space Weather Prediction Center at NOAA.

NOAA Issues First Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch Since 2005

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"Satellite operators are also busy monitoring spacecraft health due to the S1-S2 storm taking place along with the severe-extreme geomagnetic storm that continues even now," Dahl added, saying some GPS systems have struggled to lock locations and offered incorrect positions.

NOAA's GOES-16 satellite captured a flare erupting occurred around 2 p.m. EDT on May 9, 2024.

As NOAA had warned late Friday, the Earth has been experiencing a G5, or "Extreme," geomagnetic storm . It's the first G5 storm to hit the planet since 2003, when a similar event temporarily knocked out power in part of Sweden and damaged electrical transformers in South Africa.

The NOAA center predicted that this current storm could induce auroras visible as far south as Northern California and Alabama.

Extreme (G5) geomagnetic conditions have been observed! pic.twitter.com/qLsC8GbWus — NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 10, 2024

Around the world on social media, posters put up photos of bright auroras visible in Russia , Scandinavia , the United Kingdom and continental Europe . Some reported seeing the aurora as far south as Mallorca, Spain .

The source of the solar storm is a cluster of sunspots on the sun's surface that is 17 times the diameter of the Earth. The spots are filled with tangled magnetic fields that can act as slingshots, throwing huge quantities of charged particles towards our planet. These events, known as coronal mass ejections, become more common during the peak of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle.

A powerful solar storm is bringing northern lights to unusual places

Usually, they miss the Earth, but this time, NOAA says several have headed directly toward our planet, and the agency predicted that several waves of flares will continue to slam into the Earth over the next few days.

While the storm has proven to be large, predicting the effects from such incidents can be difficult, Dahl said.

Shocking problems

The most disruptive solar storm ever recorded came in 1859. Known as the "Carrington Event," it generated shimmering auroras that were visible as far south as Mexico and Hawaii. It also fried telegraph systems throughout Europe and North America.

Stronger activity on the sun could bring more displays of the northern lights in 2024

While this geomagnetic storm will not be as strong, the world has grown more reliant on electronics and electrical systems. Depending on the orientation of the storm's magnetic field, it could induce unexpected electrical currents in long-distance power lines — those currents could cause safety systems to flip, triggering temporary power outages in some areas.

my cat just experienced the aurora borealis, one of the world's most radiant natural phenomena... and she doesn't care pic.twitter.com/Ee74FpWHFm — PJ (@kickthepj) May 10, 2024

The storm is also likely to disrupt the ionosphere, a section of Earth's atmosphere filled with charged particles. Some long-distance radio transmissions use the ionosphere to "bounce" signals around the globe, and those signals will likely be disrupted. The particles may also refract and otherwise scramble signals from the global positioning system, according to Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist with NOAA. Those effects can linger for a few days after the storm.

Like Dahl, Steenburgh said it's unclear just how bad the disruptions will be. While we are more dependent than ever on GPS, there are also more satellites in orbit. Moreover, the anomalies from the storm are constantly shifting through the ionosphere like ripples in a pool. "Outages, with any luck, should not be prolonged," Steenburgh said.

What Causes The Northern Lights? Scientists Finally Know For Sure

The radiation from the storm could have other undesirable effects. At high altitudes, it could damage satellites, while at low altitudes, it's likely to increase atmospheric drag, causing some satellites to sink toward the Earth.

The changes to orbits wreak havoc, warns Tuija Pulkkinen, chair of the department of climate and space sciences at the University of Michigan. Since the last solar maximum, companies such as SpaceX have launched thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit. Those satellites will now see their orbits unexpectedly changed.

"There's a lot of companies that haven't seen these kind of space weather effects before," she says.

The International Space Station lies within Earth's magnetosphere, so its astronauts should be mostly protected, Steenburgh says.

In a statement, NASA said that astronauts would not take additional measures to protect themselves. "NASA completed a thorough analysis of recent space weather activity and determined it posed no risk to the crew aboard the International Space Station and no additional precautionary measures are needed," the agency said late Friday.

People visit St Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay to see the aurora borealis on Friday in Whitley Bay, England. Ian Forsyth/Getty Images hide caption

People visit St Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay to see the aurora borealis on Friday in Whitley Bay, England.

While this storm will undoubtedly keep satellite operators and utilities busy over the next few days, individuals don't really need to do much to get ready.

"As far as what the general public should be doing, hopefully they're not having to do anything," Dahl said. "Weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight." He advised that the largest problem could be a brief blackout, so keeping some flashlights and a radio handy might prove helpful.

I took these photos near Ranfurly in Central Otago, New Zealand. Anyone can use them please spread far and wide. :-) https://t.co/NUWpLiqY2S — Dr Andrew Dickson reform/ACC (@AndrewDickson13) May 10, 2024

And don't forget to go outside and look up, adds Steenburgh. This event's aurora is visible much further south than usual.

A faint aurora can be detected by a modern cell phone camera, he adds, so even if you can't see it with your eyes, try taking a photo of the sky.

The aurora "is really the gift from space weather," he says.

• space weather
• solar flares
• solar storm