Northern lights spotted in Houston County Friday night

HOUSTON COUNTY – The northern lights lit up the Georgia sky with blue, pink and purple on Friday night. Residents of Houston County were treated to a rare spectacle as the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, filled the skies. 

According to the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, the lights were able to make it south due to a severe G4 geomagnetic storm. 

The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center explained that a large sunspot cluster was responsible for producing moderate to strong solar flares. Five of these flares were associated with Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), which are explosive releases of plasma from the sun’s corona.  

CMEs cause geomagnetic storms, which trigger auroras to be visible on Earth. Middle Georgians were able to see the lights Friday night, many able to take photos of the rare event. 

According to space.com, the best place to view the northern lights is in the “auroral zone,” a radius of around 1,500 miles from the North Pole. This weekend’s storm expanded their reach as far south as Alabama.

Thanks to the geomagnetic storm, Houston County citizens were able to see the rare event at least once in their lives. The space prediction center said geomagnetic storm conditions are waning throughout the beginning of the week.

See below photos captured by Houston County residents.