Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WUNC End of Year - Make your tax-deductible gift!

Northern Lights Put On Show, Thanks To Large Solar Flare

The sky danced with bands of green, yellow and other colors last night, as the aurora borealis, or northern lights, dazzled viewers in the upper Northern Hemisphere. The light show was sparked by a powerful solar flare that erupted from the sun Wednesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's says that while Earth will feel the effects of the large coronal mass ejection through Sunday, it won't bring major communications or electrical problems.

If you weren't far enough in the north — or well-rested enough – to see the show, don't worry: stunning images were posted to Twitter and elsewhere. Here's a selection:

If you're in the northern U.S. or Canada, you can check out NOAA's "Aurora Forecast" to see whether the aurora borealis is likely to be visible.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.
More Stories