The unusually wide northern hemisphere sky was lit up with brilliant colors overnight and into a dazzling Monday morning People in North America and Europe.
Scientists say the display may be visible south of Iowa in the US and parts of southern England.
Known as the northern lights or northern lights, the phenomenon occurs when particles emitted by the sun collide with particles already trapped around Earth’s magnetic field and is often seen in parts of Iceland, Canada and Alaska.
But on Friday, the sun let go huge burst of energy, said Robert Steinberg, a space scientist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. (These bursts are also known as coronal mass ejections.)
“The sun spits out a big cloud of plasma,” Mr. Steinberg said. The burst of energy, with its own magnetic field, had been traveling through space and reached Earth’s magnetic field on Sunday, when the two collided to create a geomagnetic storm, he said. “It keeps our magnetosphere very active.”
When that happens, the aurora can be seen closer to the equator, Mr Steenburgh said. Such events are not uncommon, about 100 every 11 years, he said, adding that storms also interfere with high-frequency radios used by sea and by airlines.
For those unaccustomed to seeing a night sky lit up with green or red streaks, the Northern Lights — associated in folklore with spiritual and divine powers — can inspire awe, even fear.
In 1872, a New York Times article described the sky glowing so intensely that “many believed that a great fire was raging in the rear of Brooklyn.” Hundreds of onlookers gathered on Rockaway Beach, New York, 1941 In 1929, many readers of The New York Times called the paper to report the dizzying spectacle.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service office in Riverton, Wyoming shared images of the sky painted in deep purples and bright greens.Also saw the Northern Lights maine, parts of wisconsinalso in torontoin Canada.
In Europe, the Northern Lights appeared over southern England, with magenta and yellow streaks lighting up the sky above Stonehenge.
