Northern Lights put on another dazzling display in southern Ontario

The Northern Lights put on another spectacular show on Thursday night, with shades of blue, pink and green rippling across the night sky.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted the aurora borealis would be visible across much of the country but it was unclear how much of it could be seen from southern Ontario.

According to their latest forecasting models, there’s a chance we could see the Northern Lights for a second time this weekend.

That’s because of recent coronal mass ejections (CME), or eruption of solar material, towards Earth. When those electrons reach our planet they collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in our upper atmosphere, releasing that energy in the form of light.

The Northern Lights as seen from Guelph, Ont. on Oct. 10, 2024. (Courtesy: Jeff Turner)

In May, southern Ontario was also treated a dazzling display of the aurora borealis.

But it’s not often that we see it more than one night in a row.

"This is quite rare and only in the years where solar activity is the highest does it happen for a few nights," Ethen Sun, an astronomer at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, told CTVNews.ca in an email.

The further north you live, the better the celestial show.

For the best view, experts recommend travelling outside the city to avoid light pollution.

Click the viewer below for more CTV viewer photos of the aurora borealis or check out this photo gallery.

- With additional reporting from CTV Toronto and NOAA