Photos: See the Northern lights from rare, solar storm

The largest geomagnetic storm in nearly two decades is hitting earth's atmosphere. It's producing a beautiful glow in the sky all over the world.

A sunspot has sent a stream of charged particles towards earth.

As those particles hit the earth's atmosphere they will be heated and start glowing producing beautiful aurora.

Lisa Upton is with the Southwest Research Institute. Social media is already filling with photos from places like Finland, Russia, Germany and New Zealand, which catches the same effect in the southern hemisphere. It's not clear how far down in the U.S. the aurora will spread, but Upton is keeping an eye out in Colorado.

Space weather forecasters expect the solar storm to peak overnight, but it will last throughout the weekend. [Copyright 2024 NPR]