What exactly is a solar storm — and how does it paint the sky with colour?

Solar storms earlier this week caused colourful auroras to be visible across much of the northern hemisphere.

While auroras from solar storms are typically only seen in the high-latitude regions near the north and south poles, this week the colours were spotted as far south as Kansas, Colorado and Texas.

Ethen Sun, a PhD candidate in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Toronto, explains what these storms are and why auroras happen.

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