Enjoying a Northern Lights display usually requires a trip to the Poles or the coldest northern countries on the planet, but recent solar storms have filled the skies of the United States with these marvelous phenomena this weekend, as reported by AP. Social media has been flooded with snapshots of Northern Lights in very unusual places like Washington, Maine, or Las Vegas.
During this magical weekend, the Northern Lights have been visible from Alaska, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine, and parts of northern Idaho, Wyoming, Iowa, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, especially in rural and dark areas.
Last week, the Sun released a large burst of energy called a coronal mass ejection, leading space weather forecasters to issue a rare solar storm alert, which upon reaching Earth and interacting with the atmosphere produces the Northern Lights.
The Sun is currently in the peak phase of its 11-year activity cycle, making the Northern Lights more common. The colorful Northern Lights have adorned unexpected night skies, and space weather experts say there are still more auroras to come.
The active period of the Sun is expected to last at least until the end of this year, although it will be months before it reaches its peak solar activity, according to NASA and NOAA.
Last spring, the strongest geomagnetic storm in two decades hit Earth, producing auroras across the northern hemisphere. And last fall, a powerful solar storm caused Northern Lights to appear in unexpected places, including Germany, the United Kingdom, New England, and the city of New York. In 1859, a massive solar storm caused auroras to be visible as far south as Hawaii.
The Northern Lights, known as the aurora borealis and aurora australis, are commonly visible near the poles, where charged particles from the Sun interact with Earth's atmosphere.