FRESNO, Calif. (KGPE) – A severe geomagnetic storm means parts of the United States will be able to see the aurora borealis. This activity started Tuesday evening, with reports of the northern lights being visible through cameras in the Madera and Mariposa county foothills.
Richard French was able to capture the brilliant display from Bass Lake.
What causes the northern lights? It all starts with a coronal mass ejection from the sun, or CME. This is comprised of plasma, which is mostly protons and electrons, and a magnetic field.
The particles travel around Earth’s magnetic field until the field gets weaker at the poles. This gives the particles an “in” into Earth’s atmosphere.
Once in Earth’s atmosphere, the particles collide with the primary molecules that make up our atmosphere: nitrogen and oxygen. The northern light colors we see are a result of these collisions at different heights in the atmosphere…