Incredibly rare: Northern Lights dazzle in North Carolina overnight

An Asheville photographer captured an incredibly rare event Thursday night: The Northern Lights, typically not visible this far south, dazzling in the starry, purple North Carolina skies.

The photos, taken by Asheville Pictures, were shared by the US National Weather Service in Greenville, SC.

Twitter also lit up with excited North Carolinians capturing photos and time-lapses of the special occasion, like this one from Evan Fisher.

Typically, the Northern Lights are only visible in far northern places, such as the Arctic, northern Canada and sometimes Alaska.

So what brought the Northern Lights so far south last night? According to CNN, the lights have been more active in recent weeks, with sky-watchers noticing the colorful display further south than usual – places like the state of Colorado, the southeast of England and New South Wales. Pilots have circled their planes mid-flight to give their passengers a closer look at the phenomenon.

Last night, the lights were brilliant in places like Asheville, NC, and Charlottesville, Va. – creating an ethereal glow over the Blue Ridge mountains due to a solar storm called a coronal mass ejection emitting electrified gas and particles into space.

According to the National Weather Service, the Northern Lights were captured overnight from the Blue Ridge Parkway and were visible because "a severe geomagnetic storm allowed for these brilliant lights to make it this far south."

Colors also glowed vividly over the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

Want to see the Northern Lights?

According to a report on CNN, we're now approaching a solar maximum, expected to occur in July 2025, which will be a time when there are a large number of sunspots and increased solar activity.

The solar events that cause auroras will become more common as we head toward the solar maximum.

This may be why the Northern Lights have been so active in the past few weeks, and could cause more activity and visibility in months and years to come. Keep your eyes on the skies!

'City Killer' asteroid passes over Earth this weekend

The skies will be busy this weekend. On Saturday, a "city killer" with the potential to cause significant damage if it hit a populated area is coming somewhat unusually close to our planet. It's on course to pass harmlessly between the orbits of Earth and the moon.

The flyby is notable, experts say.

"What's unusual about this object is that this is rather rare, that an object of this size passes so close to Earth. That happens about once every 10 years," Richard Moissl, ESA head of the Planetary Defence Office, said.