[Faline]

It's one of the world's most famous and spectacular solar phenomena, but those hoping to experience the Northern Lights usually have to travel to remotest Norway to witness their beauty.
But freak solar activity yesterday saw the stunning auroral display stretch much further than usual, as it was spotted by stunned stargazers across half of northern America.
The Northern Lights are caused by reflections of solar activity when light is created by explosions on the surface of the Sun.

Photographer Brian Emfinger spotted the Northern Lights in Arkansas and managed to capture the rare solar activity on camera:


Solar experts believe the Northern Lights spread to parts of the U.S. as America was getting dark on a particularly clear night:


The light made throws out electronically-charged particles towards the Earth which are carried on the solar wind towards out atmosphere on a 3million-mile journey.
When the particles are swept towards the poles and react with ions in the atmosphere, the result creates Mother Nature's amazing light show as vivid swathes of bright colour shoot across the night sky.
The most recent mass coronal ejection occurred when most of the U.S. was getting dark on a particularly clear night, leading to the spectacular light show witnesses in Washington D.C., Arkansas and Virginia.
Amateur photographer Brian Emfinger was one of the stargazers who captured the rare occurrence after being alerted to the aurora show on SpaceWeather.com.
He said: 'I ran out and put my camera out and immediately saw reddish aurora.
'I ran out into the field, and within a few minutes the aurora went crazy!'

Mr Emfinger described how the aurora 'just went crazy' after appearing near his home in Arkansas yesterday evening:


Experts reported that as well as Mr Emfinger spotting the aurora in Arkansas, the Northern Lights were also seen in Washington D.C, Virginia and Wisconsin:


Others who witnessed the spectacle in America described seeing 'the blood-red Northern Lights aflame in the night sky'.
Photographer Randy Halverson, who saw a beautiful green and red aurora over Wisconsin, told MSNBC: 'At one point they were so bright they lit up the ground.'
The coronal mass ejection from the Sun hit Earth's magnetosphere at about 2 p.m. ET, SpaceWeather.com reported.
The impact caused a strong compression in the magnetic field, allowing electrically charged particles from the solar wind to penetrate down to geosynchronous orbit (22,000 miles or 35,000 kilometers in altitude).

[NightRider]

Looks amazing. Would of loved to see something that incredible in person

[Cancun78]

People saw it here in southeast Ohio too. I didn't see it but others did good for them. I was pissed because I missed it.

[kellyhound]

cool

[mally]

Wow beautiful pictures