(WXYZ) — The Northern Lights dazzled the metro Detroit skies on Friday night, about five months after people across the area were able to see them. We were sent in photos from around the area.
It's unusual to see the frequency and strength of the geomagnetic storms we've been seeing this year. In May, we had a G5 and on Thursday night, it was a G4.
How do these storms form to begin with? We have solar flares – coronal mass ejections from the sun. That sends all of these charged particles to the Earth and it hits these magnetic fields.
This is where Michigan's location helps. We're in the northern latitudes, which means we're closer to the poles. That's where the poles are the weakest, and the electrons collide with the various molecules in the atmosphere.
The resulting excitation of these collisions cause varying colors, based on the height and the type of molecules that hit.
Pink auroras are below 100 KM and it's nitrogen molecules. Green auroras are 100-200 KM up and oxygen molecules. Blue auroras are 100-200 KM up and nitrogen molecules. Red auroras are 200 KM and above and are oxygen molecules.
Thursday night was a severe geomagnetic storm, and there's still a chance to see it on Friday night, but it does decrease and it's only moderate.
