The eastern United States saw a breathtaking show of colors Thursday night as a result of a “severe” solar storm that caused the northern lights to be seen far farther south than usual.
From Maine to New York, Washington, D.C., and beyond, the sky was pink, purple, and green as the sun was lowering.
However, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the radiant storm has the ability to interfere with contemporary technologies.
On October 10, 2024, a view of the northern lights, or aurora borealis, is captured near Falmouth, Maine.
David Sharp/AP
MORE: The northern lights will be at their most active at this time.
According to NOAA, the CME produced a moderate solar storm on Earth on Thursday and Friday.
According to NASA, a solar storm, also known as a geomagnetic storm, happens when charged particles in the solar wind interact with Earth’s magnetic field, resulting in a major disruption.
Aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, are one of the most frequent signs of a CME’s influence on Earth. The CME and Earth’s magnetic field, or magnetosphere, combine to produce ribbons of light that shine pink, green, and various hues in the far northern skies.
MORE: Could this week’s solar storm harm technology? An expert from NOAA explains
The farther south the northern lights are seen, the stronger the solar storm. However, due to the Earth’s curvature, which causes particles to interact higher in the atmosphere, a more reddish color rather than green becomes noticeable as you move south.
Getty Images/AFP/Apu Gomes
According to NOAA, the northern lights were visible Thursday over a large portion of the northern half of the United States and could stretch as far south as Alabama to Northern California.
The largest geomagnetic storms, designated G5 on NOAA’s five-point rating system, have the potential to cause extensive voltage control issues that could result in power outages or possibly the total failure of some power grid systems. Auroras might be visible in this situation as far south as Florida and southern Texas.
According to NASA, strong geomagnetic storms can also shower Earth with subatomic particles, which could interfere with radio and GPS signals as well as electrical power networks, potentially upsetting navigation systems.
MORE: The UK witnesses the “rare” northern lights for the second consecutive night.
Additionally, geomagnetic storms have the ability to intensify Earth’s magnetic field currents, which can alter the upper atmosphere’s density distribution and increase drag on satellites in low orbit.
“Power grids are prepared to handle minor disruptions to anomalous activity on high-voltage transmission lines, and everyday life is usually not significantly impacted,” Shawn Dahl, coordinator for NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, told ABC News earlier this year.
The northern lights were seen as far south as Arizona, Mississippi, and Texas last month. In Alaska, aurora borealis were visible earlier this week.
