Photos show the lights illuminating the sky in vivid color across the U.S. this week. They'll be visible again in some states on Thursday.

The northern lights could be visible across 10 U.S. states (or maybe more) tonight (Nov. 13-14) as soon as it gets dark, so it's worth keeping an eye on the sky throughout the evening, especially in areas with clear, dark skies.

Nature offers many dazzling displays, from jagged flashes of lightning to radiant sunsets. But perhaps one of the most elusive natural phenomena is the shimmering waves of green, pink, and red dancing across the night sky,

On Tuesday, NOAA issued a G4, or severe, geomagnetic storm watch in response to recent coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, from the sun. CMEs are huge bubbles of coronal plasma that the sun occasionally ejects, NASA says. The highest geomagnetic storm level is G5, which is considered extreme.

Strong geomagnetic storms and a moderate solar radiation storm have led to an aurora view forecast for Wednesday night in the northern U.S.

After displays of auroras lit up the sky on Tuesday, another Northern Light array is expected to bring a gleaming light show to the northern part of the U.S. Wednesday.

Auroras may be visible from Alaska to Illinois as an incoming coronal mass ejection could spark severe geomagnetic storm conditions overnight.

Many missed this week’s aurora due to clouds, light pollution or a simple lack of patience. Here’s how to prepare better.

VALLEY FALLS, Kansas (AP) — Charlie Riedel has been a staff photographer for The Associated Press based in Kansas City for 25 years. He has covered Olympics, Super Bowls and the Masters among many sporting events in his career. He also has covered presidential elections, weather disasters, the Gulf oil spill and protests.

The northern lights were visible Tuesday night across the Chicago area, illuminating the sky with brightly colorful displays due to severe solar storms.

Increased solar activity causes auroras that dance around Earth’s poles, known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and southern lights, or aurora australis. When the energized particles from coronal mass ejections reach Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create different colored lights in the sky.

Skies over North America erupted this week with shimmering colors: Shades of pink, purple and green swayed across the skies in Northern as well as some Southern states. It followed two similarly prolific auroral displays in North America in October and May of 2024.