Northern Lights in NY: How the solar storm led to some spectacular displays

Many New Yorkers caught a rare glimpse of the Northern Lights Thursday evening – a dazzling display of purple hues that even managed to cut through the city’s light pollution.

Though geomagnetic activity will remain high around Earth on Friday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration models show the best place to catch a Friday encore of the aurora borealis will be farther north into Canada.

But several of us at New York Public Radio, Gothamist's parent company, were able to catch some great photos of the heavenly spectacle.

The colorful exhibition was thanks to an especially strong solar storm that thrust millions of tons of plasma toward Earth – which also had the potential to mess with GPS systems and other technology by disturbing the planet’s magnetic fields.

Because of their magnetic nature, the electrons that cause the Northern Lights are normally just drawn to our planet’s poles, according to the NOAA. But major geomagnetic storms can cause those electrons to expand further afield, blinking and changing shape depending on the time of night. Skies must be clear in order to see them, and light pollution can make the viewing more difficult.