Kansas sky turns purple in rare display of Northern Lights

TOPEKA (KSNT) – Thousands of Kansans were dazzled by the rare sight of the Aurora Borealis Friday night as a storm in space rages overhead.

27 News viewers sent in dozens of aurora photos from across Kansas, showing the skies turn a variety of odd colors not usually seen in the Sunflower State. If you want to share photos or videos of the aurora with our station, just use this link.

The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) began warning people of the possibility of a severe storm in space on Thursday, May 9. 27 News interview Brenda Culbertson, a Solar System Ambassador with NASA, about the situation and learned a massive sunspot was the cause of the storm.

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The Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as the Northern Lights, are formed by solar activity. Sunspots like the one seen earlier in the week can erupt into solar flares, sending particles from the Sun towards Earth where they interact with our planet’s magnetic field, known as the magnetosphere, in an event referred to by scientists as a geomagnetic storm.

These storms are ranked by the SWPC on a scale of G1 to G5 with G5 representing the most extreme case. On May 9, the storm was ranked as a G3 but was quickly increased to a G4 later that same day.

The SWPC is now ranking this geomagnetic storm as the most severe category on Saturday, May 11. This means people who missed Friday’s aurora may have a second chance on Saturday night.

While seeing the aurora may be an exciting experience for many, it also comes with a warning. Due to the geomagnetic storm’s severity, it now has the capability to damage power grids on Earth and satellites in space.

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The SWPC’s latest warning on the storm indicates it will stick around until Sunday, May 12 with more storms possible in the following days. The SWPC is also reporting power grid problems along with the deterioration of high-frequency communication systems and GPS due to interference from the storm.

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