Northern Lights shine in Minnesota: Photos

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Photo from Cheya Gerard in Hugo (Cheya Gerard)

(FOX 9) - A strong geomagnetic storm in Earth's atmosphere made for a spectacular show of the Northern Lights in Minnesota overnight.

What happened?

A coronal mass ejection – a burst of plasma and magnetic field shot off by the sun – reached Earth Monday night, sparking a G4 or "severe" geomagnetic storm. The storm scale goes from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme). You may remember another G4 storm from back in May also created a brilliant Northern Lights display.

Geomagnetic storms are what fuel the aurora, resulting in visible Northern Lights across the northern United States Monday night into Tuesday morning.

There were reports of visible Northern Lights even in the Twin Cities metro, where light pollution typically makes it difficult to see the aurora.