Clear skies on Thursday night gave Chicagoans, including the scores gathered at Montrose Point by Lake Michigan, a good look at the aurora borealis.
The dazzling display was visible to the naked eye even amid the city lights as many residents took to social media to document the brilliant streaks of pink, purple, blue and green filling the clear night sky.
Daniel Comeaux, 32, of River North, biked over to Montrose Point around 8:45 p.m. Thursday to meet up with a friend organizing a group to meet there. They chose the location because it offered unobstructed views to the north and east, but also was somewhat shielded from city lights.
When he arrived he saw only “a slight shine in the sky,” he said, but by 9 p.m., “suddenly, the colors got much more vibrant, and the very defined vertical pillars started to appear. For [about] 20 minutes, it was color everywhere — even looking northwest and west over Edgewater.”
“I’ve always wanted to see the aurora but have never had the chance,” Comeaux said. “I really couldn’t believe how vibrant it was within the city limits. It was great just to be out there sharing that moment with other Chicagoans. It was a beautiful thing to see and to experience in a group. It reminded me a bit of seeing the eclipse — you don’t realize how spectacular it’s going to be until the moment it hits, and then you just can’t look away.”
He captured the rare phenomenon on his iPhone using a 3-second exposure.
Auroras, which happen nearly constantly at both polar regions of the planet, are caused when coronal mass ejections of solar material from the sun reach Earth’s magnetic field, causing a geomagnetic storm. The neon lights are produced by collisions between the solar material and atoms and molecules of Earth’s upper atmosphere. They’re also known as the northern lights.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week. Such a storm could temporarily disrupt power and radio signals.
The storm also may trigger northern lights as far south in the U.S. as the lower Midwest and northern California, though exact locations and times are uncertain, according to NOAA. Skygazers are reminded to point their smartphones upward for photos — the devices often can capture auroras that human eyes cannot.
Chicagoans attempt a glimpse of the aurora borealis overhead at Montrose Point on Thursday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
The aurora borealis might not be as visible Friday, said Lee Carlaw, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“Cloud cover is going to start rolling overhead through the day [Friday]. It’s not going to be opaque or anything, but through tomorrow night and into Saturday morning, it may get a little more opaqueness to it, which may inhibit any additional viewing for parts of the area.”
It’s been a good year for seeing auroras, even in lower latitudes. That’s because of increased electromagnetic activity as the sun is believed to be approaching the height of its 11-year solar cycle, known as a solar maximum.
There will likely be more to come. Shawn Dahl, a space weather forecaster at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, said we remain “in the grip” of the solar maximum and it isn’t likely to start to fade until early 2026.
“We’re in for more of the experiences we had [Thursday] night,” he said.
Contributing: AP
Chicagoans attempt a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis overhead at Montrose Point on Thursday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times