PSA: You might want to look up at the sky on Sunday night

If you live in the northern parts of the United States or the U.K., check out the sky on Sunday.
 By 
Emma Hinchliffe
 on 
PSA: You might want to look up at the sky on Sunday night
The northern lights in Norway. Credit: Jamie Cooper/REX/Shutterstock

If you're free on Sunday night and you live within a certain range of northern latitudes, you might want to look out a window.

Meteorologists are predicting an aurora borealis, or northern lights show.

The northern lights are the result of our sun's solar storms, which emit streams of charged particles that can reach Earth. Magnetic fields from the north and south poles pull the particles into the upper or occasionally lower atmosphere, where they collide with neutral particles.

The result? A majestic, glowing sky. Oftentimes, the northern lights are only visible at higher latitudes (like in Scandinavia during the summer), but occasionally -- as is the case this time, apparently -- they'll reach lower down the northern hemisphere.

The southern hemisphere can get light shows too, but those southern lights are called aurora australis.

If you look at the National Weather Service's map of the upcoming aurora borealis, you can see if the lights are expected to be visible from where you are. Parts of New England, the upper Midwest, the northwest, and Canada should definitely be able to see the lights on Sunday.

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Emma Hinchliffe

Emma Hinchliffe is a business reporter at Mashable. Before joining Mashable, she covered business and metro news at the Houston Chronicle.

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