Stargazers in the northern U.S. and Canada were treated to a rare showing of the northern lights late Friday night and before dawn early Saturday morning, the result of a “severe” geomagnetic storm that triggered what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called an “unusual and potentially historic event.”
In a rare showing, the northern lights stretched deep into the U.S. Friday night and early Saturday ... [+]
A geomagnetic storm—the result of an eruption of plasma from the sun’s atmosphere—brought the northern lights into northern California, the northern Plains, Great Lakes and the East Coast as far south as the Carolinas and Florida late Friday night.
The lights, known as the Aurora Borealis, technically occur throughout the year, though they are not always visible and best seen between September and April, making Friday’s lights an anomaly.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center estimated a high likelihood of viewing the lights along the Canadian border, with a lower likelihood across the northern U.S., and predicted the lights will remain visible Saturday night.
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The northern lights were visible across New England, including in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
The lights in Brunswick, Maine, outside Portland Maine, appeared bright shades of pink and green.
The northern lights were visible across the northern U.S. Friday night and Saturday morning, shining ... [+]
In North Carolina, the northern lights could be seen as far south as Mount Mitchell.
NOAA called Friday’s northern lights a “unusual and potentially historic event," stretching into ... [+]
The Aurora Borealis glowed deep streaks of green and blue over Rochester, New York.
The northern lights were not the only astronomical phenomenon to come out of the intense solar storm this week. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned on Friday the “severe” geomagnetic storm could cause a widespread communications disruption and “widespread voltage problems,” potentially damaging satellites, the electric power grid and radio. The warning was the first of its kind in nearly two decades, and comes amid a series of coronal mass ejections from the sun, a phenomenon that occurs when bursts of plasma blast from the sun.