Northern lights dazzle Maine, California, New Hampshire and other states during rare solar storm: See the photos
Stargazers across the globe were seen marveling at the natural wonder, also known as aurora borealis.
The best show this weekend is in the sky. A geomagnetic storm — the largest in two decades — is causing a gorgeous glow over parts of the globe, and everyone is snapping photos of the awe-inspiring phenomenon.
A geomagnetic storm is caused by disturbances in Earth's magnetosphere, typically triggered by intense solar activity, such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the sun. When these charged particles interact with Earth's magnetic field, they can disrupt the magnetosphere, leading to a geomagnetic storm. The result is the colorful northern lights, also known as aurora borealis.
While the northern lights are certainly beautiful, this geomagnetic storm does come with some hiccups. Starlink, the satellite arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which owns 60% of the 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth, warned on Saturday of a “degraded service.” The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) also said there have been reports of power grid irregularities, as well as disruptions to GPS and high-frequency communication.
Want to view these lights yourself? In the United States, the SWPC says people in the northern half of the country can look up late in the night to see this phenomenon, with viewing possible as far south as Northern California and Alabama. Your best shot at viewing these lights in this zone is to stay up between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time in an area with limited light pollution. While the human eye may not be able to detect the lights in every case, your cell phone should pick up on the colorful display — so make sure to snap a pic (or a hundred!) before you head back in.
But even if you can’t check out these lights in real life, you can enjoy photos from around the world of this rare, sun-related storm. Check out the photos below.
