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The northern lights, or the northern lights. The Vikings thought it was a road to the Gods, but we now know exactly what these beautiful lights are.
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Thanks to a geomagnetic storm from the sun, observers from the northern United States and most of Canada saw the aurora borealis later this week.

The Space Weather Prediction Center on Tuesday issued a G2 (Moderate) Geomagnetic Storm eve on Thursday, which means that an Aurora Borealis could be visible that day.

The watch was issued due to a series of massive coronal sun ejections expected to arrive on Earth Wednesday and Friday. These events are "large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field of the solar corona," said the space center.

A "surprisingly strong" aurora was visible early Tuesday in a northern part of the United States after an earlier geomagnetic storm, according to AccuWeather.

Thursday's heavenly show could be visible in states like Montana, the Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinois, Michigan, northern New York State and a large city. part of New England, according to the forecasting center.

Residents of cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany and Boston all have a chance to see the dawn.

Auroras are formed when particles from the sun are drawn into the Earth's magnetic field. The particles interact with the molecules of the atmospheric gases to provoke the famous glowing and green colors of the dawn.

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The lights are visible in the northernmost and southern parts of the world. The southern lights are known as aurora australis.

Contributor: DeJanay Booth, Detroit Free Press

Follow Doyle Rice on Twitter @USATODAYWeather

Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/14/northern-lights-aurora-borealis-could-coming-northern-u-/s/3670677002/