(Photo: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND, AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 Thanks to a geomagnetic storm from the sun, skywatchers across most of Canada and the northern U.S. should get a special treat Sunday night into Monday morning: A visit from the aurora borealis, aka the Northern Lights. pic.twitter.com/H3QwGArCHw — NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) July 14, 2017 
 
 The event is courtesy of a solar flare, which erupted out of a sunspot late Thursday into early Friday. Credit: NASA/SDO/Scott Sutherland 
 
 At the same time as the solar flare was blasting out X-rays, which caused a minor radio blackout over parts of Asia, it also released a massive cloud of solar particles - what's known as a coronal mass ejection. Currently, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center is reporting that the Earth-directed portion of the coronal mass ejection arrived earlier than expected. This evening, storm levels are predicted to diminish slightly - to G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm levels - and then jump back up to G2 storm strength between 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. EDT. Based on all of this activity, auroras are expected to stretch down over most of Canada and the northern United States tonight, and likely visible as far south as between the Kp=5 (green) and Kp=7 (yellow) lines on the map below.
– Look up into the skies Sunday night and you might just get to see the aurora borealis, otherwise known as the Northern Lights. Scientists at the NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center say that aurora lights, which are usually only seen in the extreme north and south of the globe, should be visible over much of Canada and the northern United States late Sunday and early Monday, USA Today reports. That includes northern New York state, much of New England, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas. The Weather Network, which has a map showing viewing areas, reports that the event was caused by a solar flare that exploded on the sun Thursday night. That flare released a cloud of solar particles, a process known as a coronal mass ejection. When those particles reach the Earth's atmosphere, they interact with atmospheric gases, creating the famed colors of the aurora. At the same time the flare was releasing that cloud of particles, it also emitted X-rays that caused a small radio blackout in Asia. At about 10am Eastern Standard Time Sunday, the National Weather Service announced on Twitter that "Geomagnetic storm conditions" had begun. According to its latest forecast, the best viewing will come between sunset and 2am, "clouds permitting."