Stargazers should keep an eye out for a rare and electrifying treat this weekend.

As the result of a powerful solar flare on July 12, skywatchers in the Lower Mainland might have a chance to see the aurora borealis.

“These flares are common on the surface of the Sun, however this particular one was very powerful. In the classification scheme for events like these an ‘X’ class flare is the most powerful and this flare clearly belongs in that class,” H. R. Macmillan Space Centre astronomer Raminder Samra told The Vancouver Sun in an email interview.

“The skies are expected to light up [Saturday] as the storm as yet to hit the Earth,” Samra said on Friday.

Best viewing sites would be out of the city, he added.

“The chances to catch anything from Vancouver or any of the suburbs is slim. Out in the Fraser Valley or north of Mount Seymour would be good places,” Samra said.

Samra stressed that families in Vancouver shouldn’t pack up the car and drive for two hours out to the Fraser Valley just to catch a glimpse because it may not happen.

“Though if you are already out there [in the Fraser Valley], do look out for it,” he said.

Aurora borealis is a rare sight in Vancouver skies, but it has been spotted from latitudes as far south as Vancouver before, Samra added. Normally to catch them one would have to travel to Yukon or the Arctic, he said.

According to Northern Lights Centre, the bright dancing lights of the aurora are collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere.

Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.

Samra said that as well as the aurora borealis, solar flares can have other potential effects on the Earth — radio signals and satellites can be affected, and lower orbit satellites can have an increase in drag, with an increased chance of falling back to the Earth.

Solar flares can also cause geomagnetic storms which have the potential to cause power outages like in Quebec in 1989.

ttufnail@vancouversun.com

Send in your photos of the Aurora Borealis to the Vancouver Sun at sunwebfile@vancouversun.com