The northern lights were on display for millions of people across the United States on Sunday night, making an appearance in more than 30 states where the conditions were right.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration shared on Sunday that the spectacle would be visible thanks to a solar flare that erupted on Friday that was directed toward Earth.
The flare resulted in quite a show for millions of Americans in the northern part of the country and much of Canada, as the aurora borealis stretched from Washington to Maine, dropping as far as Arizona.
Space Weather Watch, an agency that tracks solar flares and such events, shared on Monday that its initial predictions were correct, and the lights could even be seen in states as south as “California, Nevada, Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas, and North Carolina.”
Over Yellowstone, the lights were visible, and the national park shared on its Twitter that last night’s sighting of “Aurora at lower latitudes is uncommon,” adding that they do appear about once a year over the park.
The lights appeared in the sky for only a few hours, showing up around 10 p.m. and disappearing around 2 a.m. local time.
The lights were even visible across the pond as they made an appearance over Stonehenge on Monday morning.
Dean Regas with the Cincinnati Observatory shared with WCPO that the sighting of the lights is “really rare” and even more so that they were visible in so much of the country.
While historically, the lights were seen as a sign from a higher being or alien life, they are now known to be caused by the Earth’s interaction with solar flares.
According to the Northern Lights Center, the auroras are a result of particles colliding.
“The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the Earth’s atmosphere,” the center says. “The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres.”
Several photographers across the country made their way out from cities to view the show without light pollution, something recommended by NOAA and several other agencies.
If you missed out on the show, keep your eyes out for announcements about potential future events, as the auroras are unpredictable, though they are most notably seen from September to April.
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