Northern Lights spotted from Montrose Beach

Dozens gathered at Montrose Beach to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights as the solar phenomenon lit up the skies over the United States for the second night in a row Wednesday.

Residents got their first taste Tuesday night when the aurora borealis lit up the night sky in pink, yellow and green. It was the most visible example of the Northern Lights in the Chicago area since at least October 2024, when another geomagnetic storm sent heads looking up to the sky.

Space weather forecasters confirmed that storms reached severe levels, triggering vibrant northern lights in Europe including Hungary and the United Kingdom, according to the Associated Press. In the U.S., the hues were spotted as far south as Kansas, Colorado and Texas.

There were some impacts to GPS communications and the power grid. The uptick in solar activity forced NASA on Wednesday to postpone the launch of Blue Origin’s new rocket carrying Mars orbiters until conditions improve.

Over the past few days, the sun has burped out several bursts of energy called coronal mass ejections. The sun is at the maximum phase of its 11-year activity cycle, making the light displays more common and widespread.

The sun’s active spurt is expected to last at least through the end of this year, although when solar activity will peak won’t be known until months after the fact.