Northern Lights: Solar Storm Creates Dazzling Aurora In Norway And Northern Europe (PHOTOS)
On Tuesday night, a solar storm created an impressive showing of the northern lights, dazzling residents of the world's northern latitudes.
The particularly vibrant auroras were caused by the magnetic wind from the largest solar storm in six years hitting the Earth's atmosphere, according to the Associated Press.
Although experts predicted that the storm's radiation could cause problems on Earth, the storm "turned out to be a mild 2 on a scale of 1 to 5," explained The Washington Post.
According to The New York Times, some flights were diverted away from the north and south poles as a precaution to avoid radio disruption. But with the current solar activity cycle that will peak in 2013, concerns remain that a major communications disruption could theoretically occur.
While the solar storm caused spectacular auroras across Northern Europe, the U.S. did not get to see the show. Rodney Viereck, a scientist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, told The Post Standard that the northern lights could be seen from Canada and southern England, but they were not visible in the continental U.S.
For more photos of the northern lights, be sure to check out the best aurora pictures from 2011.
Below, check out images from Tuesday night's northern lights in Norway.
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First Posted: 01/25/2012 3:32 pm Updated: 02/14/2012 1:14 pm