The Northern Lights made a guest appearance over portions of the northern hemisphere not normally treated to its magical colors on Monday night.
The brilliant colors of the Aurora Borealis were visible in a large swath of sky, much further south than usual, from late Monday into early Tuesday morning, thanks to an intense solar storm.
The Space Weather Prediction Center forecast that the lights would be visible at the Canadian border in the midwestern United States, and would dip down over parts of New England.
Our @MWObs intern celebrating in viewing his first ever #AuroraBorealis tonight. #NHwx #aurora #northernlights #NH pic.twitter.com/lkpomhWpF7— Ryan Knapp (@WXKnapper) June 23, 2015
Portions of the UK and Ireland also got a glimpse of the Northern Lights. This snap from northern Wales captured the spectacular light show in all of its glory.
Tonights Aurora from The Great Orme, Llandudno North Wales @dailypostwales @tv_conwy @Aurora_Alerts @aurorawatchuk pic.twitter.com/CRP1mnKaso— CJ Barr (@cjbarr01) June 23, 2015
The best place for viewing the astronomical phenomenon was away from city lights where skies were clear. The northern lights made a spectacular appearance over Montana, where stargazers were able to snap these photos.
The most intense photos I got from tonight's #Aurora! #northernlights near Billings, Montana USA! @TamithaSkov pic.twitter.com/oQ3k0qI6Hg— Ben Ch ⚜ (@CampBenCh) June 23, 2015
Montana living #northernlights #vwap A photo posted by Raymond DeVries (@stingraydv) on Jun 22, 2015 at 11:41pm PDT
The intensity of the solar storm meant that the aurora was seen much further south than usual. Chris Cook snapped this image of pinks and golds illuminating the sky over Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
WOW! Northern Lights seen well south tonight from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Photo: Chris Cook. #Aurora #NorthernLights pic.twitter.com/uQ08poEaxt— Mark Tarello (@mark_tarello) June 23, 2015
The solar storm is due to a blast of magnetic plasma that shot out of the sun on Sunday, and hit Earth with the highest intensity seen since March or possibly since September 2005.
The Aurora Australis was also visible last night in the skies of the southern hemisphere. Due to the intense solar storm, the southern aurora was also pushed into areas that don't often see the lights.
Auroras are the result of the charged particles released by the storm into space interacting with Earth's magnetic field. The particles excite neutrally charged particles in Earth's upper atmosphere that glow red, green, purple and other brilliant colors depending on the particles in the atmosphere.
Northern lights tonight in South Dakota #SpaceWX pic.twitter.com/y3JvTupuvK— Chad Cowan (@stormtimelapse) June 23, 2015
The solar storm could last a day or longer, so those who missed the show may have a second chance to see them overnight on Tuesday.
Such severe solar storms (this one was of G4 magnitude) can sometimes cause problems with the electrical grid on Earth and interfere with some radio transmissions.