Stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere got a treat over the weekend. Many watched the sky light up like the Fourth of July. Fireworks didn’t create the bright light show. The northern lights did.

The northern lights are a natural light display in the sky. They are also called the aurora borealis. The lovely view is caused by a huge solar flare. That’s a disturbance on the surface of the Sun. It sends radiation out—and some of that reaches Earth.

For just a few minutes, the solar flare supercharges the sky on Earth. Bright blue, florescent green, soft yellow, and other colors shimmer above the horizon.

Last Thursday, the Sun launched an “X-class solar flare.” The solar flare was strong. In fact, its force sparked a radio blackout across parts of South America! The extra burst of energy disrupted radio signals.

“Space stuff” trailed behind the flare. A cluster of solar plasma (energetic hot pieces of the Sun’s gas) and chunks of plasma called coronal mass ejection followed particles from the flare.

When the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration saw the solar flare, the agency issued a warning. “There might be a strong geomagnetic storm,” it said.

Stargazers’ ears perked up. That warning meant a light show was coming! It’s hard to predict who will get to see the aurora sky show. This year was no different. People in some states got to see the sky light up, but others missed it.

The northern lights are not normally on display in southern skies like they were over the weekend. The famous show is usually spotted in Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Alaska, Russia, and the northernmost U.S. states. But this time was different. The solar “storm” was so big that people in states as far south as Oklahoma and North Carolina got a glimpse of the lights.

God delights in showing us His creative power. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.”