NORTHERN LIGHTS OVER NEBRASKA: A solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, causing magnetic unrest and auroras at high latitudes. Last night faint North Lights descended all the way south to Nebraska. Click to view a movie of the display, photographed by Chris Allington of Crofton, NE:

nebraska_strip2.jpg

"I certainly didn't expect this tonight, but the plots were interesting enough to get me out and investigate the northern sky with the camera," says Allington. "Suprisingly, around 9:30pm local time I could see the color of the aurora on my camera so I decided to head to a wind farm near my house. The display got much more vibrant and lasted nearly 4 hours from 10pm to 2am. It's not often that auroras are hardly in the forecast and we see them as far south as NEBRASKA! "

The cause of the display was the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), which tipped south and opened a crack in Earth's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in to fuel the light. More high-latitude auroras are possible tonight: NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance of polar geomagnetic storms as the solar wind continues to blow. Aurora alerts: text, phone.


My own highlights in last paragraph

from spaceweather

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