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Canadians treated to stellar northern lights after big solar storm
Associated Press and Globe staff

This article was published more than 10 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Canadians were treated to a spectacular light show last night after a solar storm pushed the colourful northern lights farther south than usual.

Thomas Berger, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center, said two blasts of magnetic plasma left the sun on Sunday, combined and arrived on Earth Tuesday much earlier and stronger than expected. The storm ranked a four on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s one-to-five scale for geomagnetic effects. Moderate solar storms, ranked at two on NOAA's scale, continued early Wednesday morning, the Space Weather Prediction Center said.

The northern lights are seen on the sky above Pilisszentkereszt, 26 kilometres north of Budapest, on March 18. (Balazs Mohai/Associated Press)

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are the result of charged particles from the sun, funneled to the Earth’s magnetic poles, bombarding with gases in the upper atmosphere and releasing light.