Increased solar activity causes auroras that dance around Earth’s poles, known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and southern lights, or aurora australis. When the energized particles from coronal mass ejections reach Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create different colored lights in the sky.

The last in a series of three coronal mass ejections hit Earth on Wednesday, so experts are keeping an eye on geomagnetic storm potential

Northern Lights may dazzle again tonight as a severe geomagnetic storm reaches peak intensity across regions. Follow live.

Could the night sky over Florida really glow with the colors of the aurora borealis? This week, a rare G4-level geomagnetic storm has made that possible, sending shimmering curtains of green, red, and violet light far beyond their usual polar haunts.

The sun has burped out bursts of energy called coronal mass ejections that could reach Earth Tuesday night. Forecasters said the vibrant displays could be visible across much of the northern U.S.

The northern lights could be visible from a much larger portion of the northern United States than usual on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as X-class flares from the sun days earlier impact the Earth.

At about 0200 UTC (that’s 1pm AEDT) on November 12, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Australian Bureau of Meteorology reported large disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field due to the solar eruptions: a G4, or severe, geomagnetic storm.

Australia and New Zealand witnessed a spectacular aurora australis, a 'cannibal' solar storm causing vibrant pink, violet, and green lights. This G4 geomagnetic storm, one of the strongest, was caused by colliding solar energy bursts.