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A dazzling aurora borealis light show captivates the internet

It's, like, cosmic.

Adam Rosenberg

on May 28, 2017

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Saturday evening stargazers were treated to one of the trippiest natural phenomenons Earth has to offer: a naked eye-visible aurora borealis.

The "northern lights," as they are often called, originate with our sun. Solar storms that occur there emit streams of charged particles which help to trigger the unusual light show once they reach Earth.

The magnetic fields emanating from our north and south poles pull the charged particles down into our upper (and sometimes lower) atmosphere, where some of them collide with the neutral particles that reside there.

The result of this collision is a beautiful glowing sky, though it's usually visible only at higher latitudes. In the Northern Hemisphere it's an "aurora borealis" and in the Southern Hemisphere it's an "aurora australis."

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Saturday evening's aurora borealis extended further south than is normal for these events, which meant it was visible in the northern U.S., Canada, and parts of Europe. It was the result of the sun spitting out a large burst of plasma on May 23, an event referred to as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).

The internet expressed its thanks for the cosmic light show in the only way it knows how: social media shares enhanced by stunning photography.

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I could go on and on. There are so many beautiful photos, videos, and GIFs to look at this morning. Find more on Twitter under the #auroraborealis and #northernlights hashtags.

With additional reporting by Miriam Kramer.

Adam Rosenberg

Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.