Northern lights dazzle in Colorado, but can also cause issues with technology

Thousands of Colorado residents took to social media on Thursday night and on Friday morning to share their views of the aurora borealis (northern lights) that were visible with the naked eye. Thousands of images flooded social media from around the state showing how bright the lights were. 

The northern lights typically are not visible as far south as the Colorado Front Range. However, Shawn Dahl with the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center said this was the result of a burst from the sun that took place earlier in the week. 

“We had a massive geomagnetic storm. This magnetic disturbance around our planet that hits severe levels,” Dahl said. “That is also what excites to life the aurora everyone is talking about from last night.”

Coronal mass ejection (CME) is the burst that sent molecules toward Earth. Those bursts take two or more days to reach our planet. 

“It is basically explosions from the sun heading out into space in the form of these energetic particles from the sun,” Dahl said. “They excite to life all the molecules that already exist up there and emit light. That is what we see as the aurora.”

People of all generations stood outside and looked up to see the lights, many of whom have never seen such a view before. 

“We saw the northern lights,” said Landon Barash, a 10-year-old from Northern Colorado. “For us, really all around was pink with a little clouds covering it.”

“It was exciting to see,” said Hunter Barash, an 8-year-old from Northern Colorado. “Usually it is all black with stars. Instead, there was a big area with a lot of pink.”

While a stunning optical for people, one which causes no health effects to people, experts say these CME’s that lead to broader displays of the northern lights actually can be bad for technology. 

“It is not (always good) because it effects our technology. From the satellite operators to the electrical power grid we all rely upon, the aviation industry, GPS users, emergency management,” Dahl said. “It effects their systems.”

The northern lights being so visible from the lower 50 states, caused by such CME’s, typically only happens every 11 years. While it is possible for the bright visuals to continue through 2025, the next time they are so accessible to most of America won’t be until around 2034. 

“Doing stories like this is tremendously helpful because it gets the general public smarter about space weather and its implications, not just that it is generating this beautiful aurora,” Dahl said.