(Radio Iowa)  -Social media pages are lit up by photos Iowans took of the Northern Lights last night and stargazers are hoping for a repeat tonight. There are few certain things in life, and catching the aurora borealis over Iowa is definitely -not- one of them. University of Iowa Physics & Astronomy Professor Allison Jaynes watched the dancing bands of green and red over a cornfield near Iowa City last night and says it’s a roll of the dice whether we’ll see the rare treat again after the sun sets in a few hours.

The lights were visible Thursday night over the Johnston area. (National Weather Service photo)

“The solar wind speed is still very high and that’s very good news for us. That means that there’s still energy coming into Earth’s magnetic field from the sun, and it just is a matter of if that persists or if it doesn’t,” Jaynes says. “So we’re going to have to wait and see.”

Seeing the spectacle in the sky is often a simple matter of being in the right place at the right time.

Prof. Allison Jaynes (UI photo)

“We can’t predict when the Aurora is going to show up and where it’s going to be. In general, the best place to look will be north,” she says. “So if you can get away from any area where there’s a city to your north and then have a look at the northern horizon, that’s the best bet for us down here in the mid-latitudes.”

If you’re going to drive an hour to get out of town on the hopes of trying to see the light show, it’s hard to know exactly when to launch the adventure. Jaynes says you would be wise to use the internet before hopping in the car with a blanket and binoculars.

“There’s several great Aurora watchers that are out there. There’s the Aurora Guy, Vincent Ledvina, one of my colleagues up in Alaska,” Jaynes says. “And there’s Aurorasaurus, which is a crowdsourcing platform which looks at tweets that mention aurora and then tries to show a distribution of where people are seeing aurora across the world.”

While the photos are often colorful and mesmerizing, keep in mind, those were likely obtained by someone using a long exposure and a tripod. Catching the real thing can be a thrill — or it can be a little disappointing — depending on your expectations.

“The pictures you see online are from people’s cameras, and that’s normally not what they’re seeing with their eyes,” Jaynes says. “The cameras are much more sensitive than our eyes, so it’s very important if you want to see it firsthand with your own eyes, to go to a very dark spot. And that being said, there is not that much of that here in Iowa or anywhere in most of where people live in this country.”

While Iowa is considered a rural, agricultural state, it’s full of light — and light pollution — at night, especially when you look at something like the Dark Sky Map. Still, Jaynes says she’s encouraged how the recent aurora appearances have captured the attention of so many people, who venture forth and gaze into the heavens.

“I saw lots of people out last night. Actually, I was driving along rural roads just trying to find a spot where you could see north over the cornfields — and there were cars everywhere,” she says. “People stopped, people outside with cameras, so it’s really a community event right now, and people are taking notice.”

Fingers crossed for tonight!