Photos show the lights illuminating the sky in vivid color across the U.S. this week. They'll be visible again in some states on Thursday.

Some states in the northern parts of the contiguous U.S. have a chance of seeing the northern lights on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

The northern lights were visible Tuesday night across the Chicago area, illuminating the sky with brightly colorful displays due to severe solar storms.

The aurora borealis, commonly known as the northern lights, is a natural light phenomenon visible in the night sky, most often near the polar regions. NASA explains that the display happens when charged solar particles interact with Earth’s atmosphere, producing glowing streaks of green, pink, and purple that ripple and move overhead.

People from Kansas as far south as Florida witnessed the Northern Lights last night, a rare spectacle for these latitudes.