Aurora Borealis Lights Up The West Michigan Skies

A coronal emission from the sun set off an Aurora Borealis light display seen over most of the northern tier of the United States -- including Michigan -- late last night into this morning.

I feel awful because I failed to get up early like I had planned to view the light show. Thankfully, many in West Michigan packed a camera and shared their beautiful photos on social media.

The lights are caused by charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, entering the atmosphere from above causing ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents, and consequent optical emissions. Incident protons can also produce emissions as hydrogen atoms after gaining an electron from the atmosphere, according to NASA.

You got that? Good, there'll be a quiz later.

The Aurora Borealis always takes me in my head to this old Neil Young song from "Rust Never Sleeps".