CARTERVILLE, Ill. (WSIL) -- Many across the area went outside on Thursday night to witness the Northern Lights, otherwise known as the Aurora Borealis.Â
While it's a beautiful and dazzling display of colors, explains the Northern Lights are created when energized particles, which are directed from the sun, slam into Earth's upper atmosphere.
According to , a severe geomagnetic storm is hitting Earth on October 11-12. This coming from a coronal mass ejection (CME) which can be seen , coming from the sun.
Auroras have been sighted on Thursday in European countries, along with states as far south as Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.
Many in the southern Illinois region also saw them as hundreds were sent in from viewers into the newsroom on Thursday night.
