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2 months ago
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The northern lights may continue to dazzle skies across northern US states Friday evening after a blast of solar particles and radiation struck Earth.
A severe geomagnetic storm hit our planet yesterday, bringing the aurora as far as Key Largo, Florida, and many Americans could see a second round of the phenomenon.
Experts have predicted that the colorful lights will visible Friday night across northern states such as Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota.
The best time to see the northern lights is between 10pm and 2am local time.
The northern lights were seen in Key Largo, Florida Thursday evening
They can be visible all across the night sky, but are often difficult to see with the naked eye in the US.
Your smartphone camera can help you get a better view. Simply point your camera at the sky and watch the aurora appear on the screen.
This spectacle - also known as the aurora borealis - is a natural light show that occurs when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's magnetic field, decorating the night sky with vibrant curtains of green, pink, red, yellow, blue and violet.
Aurora are most commonly seen in the auroral zone - a region within 1,550 miles of the North Pole. Typically, the lights can only be seen in areas including Scandinavia, Alaska and Iceland.
But geomagnetic storms can make them appear further south.
The storm that caused Thursday's aurora could continue through Friday morning, but is expected to weaken in severity, dropping to 'strong' or even 'moderate' levels.
Some northern states may still have a chance to see aurora Friday evening, as parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin remain just inside the auroral zone.
At roughly 1pm ET on Thursday, Oct 10, a G4 geomagnetic storm began raging in Earth's magnetic field, according to the National Oceanic at Atmospheric Administration.
Sunspot AR3848 - a dark, fast-growing region of strong magnetic fields on the sun's surface - produced a strong X1.8-class solar flare, which can trigger blackouts and stress the power grid.
The storm could continue through Friday morning, but is expected to weaken in severity, dropping to 'strong' or even 'moderate' levels
Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation that come from a release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. They are the largest explosive events in the solar system.
After the solar flare erupted, a second blast of high energy particles and solar plasma made a direct line for Earth. This is called a coronal mass ejection, or CME.
It hurtled toward us at roughly 750 to 800 miles per second and reached Earth Thursday morning, triggering a disruption in the magnetosphere - the region of space surrounding our planet that is dominated by its magnetic field.
This disruption is known as a geomagnetic storm. It reached G4 strength at approximately 1:00pm ET, according to NOAA.
People in Salida, Colorado were able to witness the pink and purple sky following the solar storm
A hue of purple and green curtains of light were captured in Zimmerman, Minnesota
Geomagnetic storms are classified by severity on a scale of one to five - a G1 storm is 'minor' and a G5 storm is 'extreme.'
A G4 storm is considered 'severe' and can cause stunning aurora displays to appear at unusually low latitudes, which is what happened Thursday evening in states all across the US.
Posts on social media showed people in southern states such as Florida, Washington DC and Kentucky witnessing the neon pink and hazy purple skies.
Even light-polluted New York City was able to catch a glimpse of the colored smear across the night sky Thursday evening.
'I'm just shocked that it took my entire life to be able to see it,' Gabriela Aguilar, a 37-year-old New Yorker, told The New York Times.
As she stepped onto the roof of her apartment building in Harlem with her dog, she was able to watch the sky turn pink, purple and green.
The northern lights were captured in Lexington, Kentucky after the severe solar storm
X user Jonah Bryson captured the northern lights outside the Capitol Building in Washington DC
'And - of all places - seeing it in New York City!' she added.
G4 storms can also disrupt electricity, GPS and communication systems, New York City's Emergency Management Department stated in a post on X.
'While the public does not need to take any action at this time, we always encourage everyone to stay informed through Notify NYC and having an emergency plan in place that includes a Go Bag with an AM radio,' NYC Emergency Management posted on X.
The solar storm hit Earth about 14 hours after Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night, which could potentially affect some recovery efforts.
In previous severe solar storms, planes have been rerouted due to radio signal interference. Some GPS systems lost accuracy. Satellites were put in safe mode and successfully moved out of orbit.
But NOAA's Weather Prediction Center has already made contact with several state agencies who are involved in recovery operations.
Thousands of Americans were able to witness what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the aurora borealis, and some may have another chance to see this rare spectacle tonight.
