The Earth survived unscathed, as usual, although many northerners reported an impressive display of aurora . Many of these auroras changed rapidly, with patterns appearing and disappearing sometimes in less than a second. Out away from city lights, observers also reported an unusually spectacular array of colors. Some of these colors were captured in the photograph above . Solar particles that strike oxygen high in Earth's atmosphere cause rare, red auroras , while oxygen lower to the ground will glow a more familiar green.
Ionized nitrogen glows blue or red.
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