Strong solar storm sparks gorgeous, dancing auroras

A strong solar storm impacted Earth from Sunday night into the wee hours of Monday morning, and it produced some incredible auroras for observers with clear skies in high latitudes. 

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), the solar storm reached the G3 level at its peak, potentially producing northern lights as far south as Illinois.

This storm marks the strongest solar storm yet in 2016, according to Spaceweather.com, and skywatchers shared many photos of the dancing lights. 

Auroras are produced when charged particles from the sun — carried on the solar wind — slam into Earth's magnetic field.

Some of those charged particles slip through the magnetic field and impact neutrally charged particles in the planet's upper atmosphere, causing them to glow in greens, blues, purples and more.

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Usually, auroras can only be seen in the highest latitudes on Earth, but when major solar storms impact the planet, it can cause the oval of the aurora to shift farther south, giving folks in different parts of the world a chance to see the cosmic lights.

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Solar storms do more than produce pretty lights in the sky. 

Major storms can cause issues for satellites in space: The charged particles streaming from the sun can increase drag on objects and even create electrical issues for spacecraft. Severe storms could even affect electrical grids on Earth, potentially causing wide-spread power outages, though those kinds of solar storms are few and far between. 

A huge solar storm that struck the Earth in 1859, called the Carrington Event, was so strong it lit telegraph lines on fire, according to some reports. That storm was caused by a a huge burst of hot plasma slamming into the Earth after being shot out from the sun.

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