The upside of a massive solar storm: Dazzling displays of the northern lights

Blasting off of the sun Sunday night, magnetic plasma hurled toward Earth and hit the atmosphere on Monday. The resulting geomagnetic storm is expected to continue over the next few days and, while it is the worst solar storm since March — and could be the worst in the past decade — it also brought a nice little light show along with it:

Forecasters said the northern lights could be visible Tuesday night as far south as Iowa or Pennsylvania. GPS and power grids are at risk of fluctuations.

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