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What’s Causing the Aurora Spectacle? The Northern Lights (aurora borealis) occur when bursts of solar plasma slam into Earth’s magnetic field and excite atmospheric gases. In this case, four CMEs from an active sunspot region are en route to our planet. Space weather forecasters describe it as a “train of solar storms” headed our way space.com. As NOAA explains, when the Sun “burps out huge bubbles of electrified gas” (a CME), those particles stream toward Earth and interact with atoms in the upper atmosphere, creating beautiful displays of light ourmidland.com. NASA casually calls this phenomenon a solar “sun burp” –