“There is considerable uncertainty associated with this prediction because initial space weather predictions are based on distant and limited solar observations,” the center said in a statement to USA TODAY on Wednesday. “Auroras can be unpredictable and wax and wane quickly. Visibility can range from bright and relatively high in the sky to dim and low on the northern horizon (perhaps only visible in long exposure photography) or even not visible at all.”

Why are the northern lights more common?

People around the world can expect more frequent and brighter northern lights to decorate the sky as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle, making electromagnetic activity more common.

According to NASA, the sun is expected to reach the peak of solar cycle 25 in 2025.

By then, sunspots in regions with intense magnetic activity are likely to increase, according to NOAA. When this magnetic activity is released, it produces intense bursts of radiation that result in solar flares – considered by NASA to be our solar system’s largest explosion events.

Solar flares emit radiation, usually in the form of ultraviolet light and X-rays, which can travel toward Earth at the speed of light. Some of these eruptions may be accompanied by coronal mass ejections, or clouds of plasma and charged particles emanating from the Sun’s outermost atmosphere, the corona.