The night sky was lit up by the aurora borealis on Friday in places where auroras don’t normally shine, as a strong solar storm overwhelmed the display.
Photos taken from around the world show brightly colored skies lit up in hot pink, green and purple across Europe, the United States and even New Zealand.
Because a series of solar flares and eruptions from the sunThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center said Thursday that the explosions could trigger strong geomagnetic storms and “spectacular aurora displays” on Friday and through the weekend.
Friday’s storm is the first severe geomagnetic storm the agency has issued since 2005.
The northern lights appear in the sky when charged particles are expelled from the sun during solar storms, producing colorful lights when clouds of these particles collide with Earth’s magnetic field and interact with the atoms and molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
Normally, the northern lights are only seen at high latitudes, but during intense solar storms, like Friday, they can be seen further south than expected, with sighting reports in Louisiana, Alabamaand Mississippi.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
