There was a rarely seen, vibrant display of the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, over the Twins Cities on Thursday night. It was easily seen with the naked eye from the western part of the metro area.
The reason for the bright Aurora glow right now is a giant, black region of the sun, called a coronal hole, which was spotted on Monday by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. It’s called a hole, but it really is just a dark discoloration that is part of the natural process for the sun.
The Coronal hole on the sun, which is blasting Earth with solar winds creating a more vibrant Aurora Borealis.(Image courtesy of NASA)
Coronal holes are the source of rapid solar winds, which reach speeds of about 500-800 km per second, according to NASA. The solar winds from this coronal hole were scheduled to reach Earth by the end of this week.
The main effect of these solar winds? A more vibrant Aurora Borealis. And that was clearly evident across Minnesota on Thursday.
The show outside the metro area was even more vibrant, away from the light of the city with many across social media sharing incredible images.
Your luck may not be as good on Friday night and Saturday night, when clouds are expected to be more prevalent. Hopefully you got a good look at them on Thursday.
