The Northern Lights: You Saw Them Where?

The Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, took an unusual jaunt south Monday night, reportedly appearing in states from Wisconsin to New Mexico and from Maine to California.

The geomagnetic storms typically occur when the Earth's magnetic field gets bombarded by the sun's energy particles, and are common in the northern portions of the continent. The collision causes a compression in the magnetic field, giving solar winds a chance to swoop down into orbit 22,000 miles above the earth's surface.

A coronal mass ejection hit the Earth's magnetic field, bringing the Northern Lights to parts of the country not used to seeing the spectacular dance of pink, red and green across the sky.

Monday night's Aurora Borealis was the byproduct of energy particles the sun emitted Saturday, reaching the earth Monday at 2 p.m. EDT.

Many observers in southern states noted pure red auroras, according to spaceweather.com. The rare display occurs during particularly intense storms, the site said.