Solar eruption kicks up incredible displays of the Aurora Borealis

In an incredible display of unearthly beauty, a massive 800,000-km long Solar Filament erupted from from the surface of the Sun on Friday, throwing off a coronal mass ejection that delivered a glancing blow to the Earth's magnetic field on Monday. The resulting geomagnetic storm caused some truly spectacular displays of the Aurora Borealis last night, and promise to do the same for tonight.

Pictures of the event were sent in from Whitehorse, Northern Quebec, and Edmonton, showing multicoloured swirls of light and eerie green ribbons floating in the sky.

The Aurora Borealis will calm as the geomagnetic storm subsides, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center is forecasting more good Aurora viewing for tonight. Anyone living inside the pale-blue oval of the forecast map may see the Aurora's glow if they look to the north tonight, but it will be everyone in the white-to-orange regions of the map that will have the best show.

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