Look Up! The Northern Lights May Be Visible This Week—Here's How to See Them

As people around the world celebrated the New Year on December 31, the northern lights put on a colorful display to ring in 2025. If you missed it, you may have another opportunity to spot the celestial phenomenon on Friday, January 3 and Saturday, January 4, according to SpaceWeather.com.

The northern lights, or the aurora borealis, are created by magnetic storms triggered by solar activity, such as solar flares or CMEs, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Energetic charged particles from these events are carried from the sun by solar winds and eventually enter Earth's atmosphere. The particles collide with molecules in our atmosphere and, as the air particles shed the energy acquired during the collision, each one glows in a different color.

On December 31, two coronal mass ejections struck Earth's magnetic field and created an intense geomagnetic storm. In turn, vivid auroras were spotted as far south as Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona.

Geomagnetic storms are ranked on a scale of G1 to G5 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with G5 being extreme. According to the NOAA, G1 (minor) conditions were announced on December 31, but escalated to G3 (strong) by January 1 after the second CME arrived. The geomagnetic storm has since subsided, but more northern lights sightings are predicted.

According to space weather physicist Tamitha Skov, there's a possibility that the northern lights will make another appearance soon, thanks to a new solar storm launching. "Although faint in coronagraphs thus far, this one may bring another chance for #aurora during January 3 & 4!" she wrote on X.