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    • Northern Lights seen on video dancing across Minnesota’s night sky
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    Northern Lights seen on video dancing across Minnesota’s night sky

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    Another geomagnetic storm made the colorful phenomenon known as aurora borealis visible in the Midwest last weekend.

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    A photographer in Minnesota managed to capture video of a mesmerizing Northern Lights display as swirls of red and green danced across the night sky.

    Another geomagnetic storm made the colorful phenomenon known as aurora borealis visible in the Midwestern United States last weekend, and Carol Bauer was there Sunday to document it in Grand Marais.

    “My husband and I traveled to Grand Marais to see the fall colors and were thrilled to also get a beautiful view of the Northern Lights,” Bauer told Storyful.

    Bauer is among the millions of Americans who can expect to have more opportunities to see this striking display in the coming months as the sun reaches the peak of its 11-year cycle.

    Watch Carol Bauer’s video of the Northern Lights:

    Northern Lights visible in the Midwest

    Last week, a massive solar flare accompanied by coronal mass ejections — clouds of plasma and charged particles — made its way toward our planet, creating a geomagnetic storm that made auroras visible in several northern U.S. states.

    Although the natural light in the sky is best seen in high latitude areas of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the Northern Lights became visible across the US this weekend. In addition to Minnesota, the stunning display of rays, spirals and flickers was also observed. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, this was seen in places along the US-Canada border and as far south as Oregon and Pennsylvania.

    Peak Northern Lights activity: What you need to know when the sun reaches solar maximum

    Peak aurora activity coincides with the height of the solar cycle

    Fortunately for aurora hunters, there will soon be many more opportunities to catch the Northern Lights.

    Electromagnetic activity is increasing as the sun continues to reach the peak of its eleven-year solar cycle, which NASA estimates will be in 2025.

    As the sun reaches the peak of solar cycle 25, the number of sunspots in areas of intense magnetic activity should increase, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. When that magnetic activity is released, it creates an intense burst of radiation, sending solar flares hurtling toward Earth at the speed of light.

    Some of these outbursts may involve coronal mass ejections coming from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona.

    These emissions can collide with Earth’s magnetosphere, the barrier that protects humanity from the harshest effects of space weather, and create geomagnetic storms that unleash spectacular views of the Northern Lights in parts of the country where auroras are not often visible.

    Eric Lagatta covers the latest and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

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