LEWISTON — It’s all a matter of perspective.

Announce that the Northern Lights are coming, and some people will ooh and ahh and express nothing but glee.

Others worry about widespread chaos.

“The cause,” said David Marquis of Lewiston, “is a solar flare from the sun, which can be pretty hazardous to our electrical grid. I started training the kids to be prepared to shut down our electrical system if they hear an alert about a solar flare.”

Weather forecasters and astronomers say the Earth-directed flare may ignite the Northern lights, known scientifically as aurora borealis. In Maine, and as far south as Boston, the viewing is expected to be good.

You know, if the weather cooperates. Most people will tell you that when it comes to sky events, you can almost count on cloud cover in Maine. Right?

Wrong.

“It looks pretty darn good,” said James Brown, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Gray. “It ought to be fabulous, really.”

The sky is expected to be clear come Friday night, Brown said. The sky will be somewhat lit by the moon, but otherwise, he expects a good show.

The flare is ranked an X-class, the highest class there is. Along with the dazzling light display, a flare of that magnitude has potential to wreak havoc on GPS, radio frequencies, cellphone and satellite reception.

Brown, for one, isn’t too worried.

“It does what it does,” he said. “But it really is a beautiful sight.”

Experts say the best time for viewing Northern Lights is around midnight, although they should be visible as soon as night falls.

At the Marquis household, there are equal parts joy and trepidation.

“My son is wicked pumped, like he has some sort of inside knowledge to save our electronics,” Marquis said. “My daughter is a bit scared and wants to know why the sun wants to break our TV and her Kindle.”