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For those who missed last night's spectacle, a second chance to see the spectacular aurora borealis, produced by a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun, will arrive Saturday evening.
The aurora could be visible as far south as Alabama late Saturday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center. The best views will be across the Ohio River Valley, through the Midwest, and into the Pacific Northwest.
Increased solar activity created a spectacular show of green, purple and red lights dancing across the northern hemisphere Friday night sky.
“I'm going to go out there and say I don't think it's going to be this strong,” Space Weather Prediction Center program coordinator Bill Marter told CNN on Saturday.
“That was unusual. Now there will be several more eruptions like this…very rare to be as intense as last night. However, we expect more strong storms.”
Generally, it's best to start looking just after sunset. Weather is of course important, as cloud cover can limit the visibility of the aurora borealis.
“This is not a solar eclipse, so don't worry. This is a multi-day event,” CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.
“You can see it in most parts of North America, and if not all the way to the Gulf Coast, you'll see it pretty close.”
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Early on Sunday, May 12, the aurora borealis shines over the trees in the Xilingol Federation of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China.
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A person watches the Northern Lights from atop a rock near Sheffield, England, on Saturday, May 11.
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The Northern Lights are reflected in the water at Manning Park, British Columbia on May 11th.
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People watch the Northern Lights outside Christchurch, New Zealand on May 11th.
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In this long-exposure photo, the flashing lights of an airplane create stripes in the aurora borealis over Lake Berryessa, California, on May 11.
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In the early morning hours of May 11th, the aurora borealis shines in the night sky over Molenwiergang in Alandelveen, Netherlands.
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The aurora borealis lights up the sky in Devrad, Slovakia on May 11th.
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In the early morning hours of May 11th, the aurora borealis shines in the night sky above the mountain of Le Col des Moss in Ormont-Dessous, Switzerland.
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On May 11, the aurora borealis illuminated the sky above Tara, a town in southwestern Siberia in Russia's Omsk region.
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On May 11th, the aurora borealis shone over Vienna.
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The Northern Lights can be seen in the countryside west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Friday, May 10th.
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People photograph the Northern Lights from Whitley Bay, England, on May 10th.
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On May 10th, the Northern Lights blaze above a farmhouse in Brunswick, Maine.
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On May 10th, the Aurora Australis (southern light) shines over the Villarrica volcano in Pucón, Chile.
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People stop along a country road near London, Ont., to watch the Northern Lights on May 10. Northern lights are commonly observed in northern regions of Canada, but rarely in southern Ontario.
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Aurora lights can be seen over western Tennessee from the window of a plane flying from Washington, D.C., to Memphis, Tennessee, on May 10.
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On May 10th, the Northern Lights can be seen in the sky over Rich Hill, Missouri.
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On May 10th, the Northern Lights shine in the night sky over Brandenburg, Germany.
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In this long exposure photo, a car passes by as people gaze at the night sky toward the Northern Lights in Estacada, Oregon, on May 10.
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Aurora seen in Cumming, Georgia on May 10th.
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People take photos while watching the Northern Lights in Crosby, England, on May 10.
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On May 10th, the Northern Lights shine over Edinburgh, Scotland.
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On May 10th, the Northern Lights can be seen at Crosby Beach in Liverpool, England.
Cloudy conditions will remain from the Rocky Mountains to Texas, the northern Gulf Coast, and much of the Northeast.
of The Space Weather Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, observed extreme geomagnetic storm conditions Friday night at 6:54 p.m. ET, rated Level 5 out of 5 in severity. The last time a solar storm of this size reached Earth was in October 2003, the center said, causing power outages in Sweden and damaging transformers in South Africa.
Signs of a severe geomagnetic storm, or Level 4, were first observed by scientists at the center at 12:37 p.m. ET when a large disturbance in the Earth's magnetic field was detected. Previously, the center announced a geomagnetic storm watch on Thursday night, the first such watch since January 2005.
However, the forecast was revised upwards after scientists observed G5 (extreme geomagnetic storm) conditions on Friday evening.
As the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle of activity, known as solar maximum, later this year, researchers have observed increasingly intense solar flares erupting from the fiery sphere.
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Increased solar activity causes the aurora borealis, known as the aurora borealis or aurora borealis, or the southern aurora, to dance around the Earth's poles. When particles energized by coronal mass ejections reach Earth's magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere and create different colored lights in the sky.
“Overnight, the Northern Lights were visible across much of the United States. Weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight,” the Space Weather Prediction Center said Saturday.
“The extreme geomagnetic storm continues and will continue through at least Sunday.”
Storms can affect not only power grids, but also satellites and high-frequency radio communications. The Biden administration said it was monitoring the potential impact.
Educator and engineer Bill Nye the Science Guy said large solar storms could cause problems for a world that relies heavily on electricity.
Nye pointed out that the solar storm of 1859, known as the Carrington phenomenon, lasted for a week and severely affected telegraph communications, which was cutting-edge technology at the time.
“Folks, unlike 1859, what's really dangerous to our technological society is how dependent we are on things like electricity and electronics,” Nye said. “None of us living in developed countries can live without electricity for long.”
Although systems are in place to minimize the impact, “issues can still occur,” Nye said, adding that all transformers are equipped to withstand large-scale solar events. He pointed out that it was not the case that the
“For me, it's just like the total solar eclipse on April 8th. It brings to our doorstep the fact that we live on a planet orbiting a star in our galaxy. It brings it down to Earth,” astrophysicist Dr. Hakim Olusei told CNN.
“If you ask me, I think a total solar eclipse is clearly number one. But seeing the aurora next to a bright comet is pretty amazing. And if you're near the North or South Pole, You can't just capture the color of the sky, you can actually capture the rippling curtain of nebulae. So the fact that it spreads to more people around the world is pretty awesome. That’s it.”
“Let's celebrate this,” Nye added.
This story has been updated with additional information.
