Video by NASA
People in Colorado and Illinois may be able to catch a glimpse of the ethereal and elusive Northern Lights Thursday evening. A solar flare is expected to shake up Earth’s magnetic field and expand the viewing field of the aurora borealis, casting shimmering waves of light low on the horizon in places that are typically too far south to see them.
According to NASA, a giant cloud of solar particles, called a coronal mass ejection, exploded from the sun on Tuesday at 1:32 p.m EST. This first major solar flare of 2014 sent billions of electrons, ions and atoms into space.
The materials were anticipated to reach the Earth Thursday morning and could disturb the atmosphere. Radio signals that pass through the layer in Earth’s atmosphere where GPS and communication signals travel could be disrupted and airlines could be forced to reroute some flights.
The solar flare has already postponed the launch of a private cargo ship to the International Space Station. The commercial company Orbital Sciences was hoping to launch an Antares rocket and robotic Cygnus spacecraft carrying almost 3,000 pounds of gear for the International Space Station on Wednesday. Included on board is a space ant colony, 33 small Cube Sat satellites and 23 experiments designed by students from across the country. Orbital officials have rescheduled the launch for Thursday.
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