Northern lights visible across Philadelphia region due to unusually strong geomagnetic storm
If you missed it, there might be another -- slight -- chance to see it Friday.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- An unusually strong geomagnetic storm made the aurora borealis visible across the Philadelphia region Thursday night.
The northern lights were spotted from the Jersey Shore to the Poconos.
"Pink auroras are rare and are typically associated with high solar activity. These colors result from a mixture of red auroras with green or blue auroras," said Meteorologist Cecily Tynan.
The best viewing conditions were forecast to occur between about 8 p.m. and midnight on Thursday.
However, if you missed it, Meteorologist Karen Rogers says there may be another -- slight -- chance to see it Friday night. Areas north of the Philadelphia region have a better viewing chance.
Rogers says the Kp-Index, which is used to measure global auroral activity, was at an 8.5 out of a 0-9 scale on Thursday night. Friday night is expected to be a five on the scale.
If you do capture the spectacle in the sky, share your photos with us here.
What are the northern lights?
The sun creates what's known as a coronal mass ejection. It's when it kind of just belts out plasma that hurls toward Earth.
It's loaded with protons and electrons, and that interacts with the Earth's magnetic fields. It creates particles that enter the atmosphere from the polls where the magnetic fields are the least. These collide with the gases in the atmosphere, with the oxygen, with the hydrogen, and create that burst of energy that sparks what we know as the northern lights or the aurora borealis.
The most common color is green, typically seen in places like Iceland. But when it's particularly strong, that's when it can go a lot farther to the south and creates that pink that most of us saw Thursday night.
Watch: Musical slideshow of images from Action News viewers
More images from Thursday night:
Good Morning America has a look at the northern lights from across the Northeast
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