People across the country were met with an extraordinary surprise late Friday night, May 10. Although many were asleep at that time, the ones still up scrambled to grab their cameras and capture the brilliant Aurora Borealis as they danced in the night sky.

“I didn’t realize they were out until I saw a bunch of pictures people were sending,” Sazika Suraj said, “So I just ran outside to see them. It wasn’t really visible from my house, so I went to Totem Falls and took a lot of pictures. It was really pretty there!”

The Aurora Borealis appeared strongest Friday night and lasted for hours, leaving many people headed off to bed past midnight. From the Pacific Northwest to as far South as Florida, the Northern Lights were visible across much of the U.S. Although they were predicted to appear Saturday and Sunday night, many that went out to see them had no such luck.

A massive solar storm caused by an eruption from a sunspot on the sun was what led to the Northern Lights appearance this weekend, an occurrence that last happened more than 20 years ago. “It’s because of a big solar storm on the sun that caused a solar flare, and the Northern Lights are the energy from the solar flare interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field,” Diego Cumplido said.

As many people discovered, the Northern Lights appeared much more colorful and brighter on cameras and in photos than what was actually visible. This is due to the eye’s limited night vision which is much weaker than the camera. Although photos seemed to enhance the Aurora Borealis more, they were still a wonder to gaze upon as green and pink lights lit up the sky. “I went outside, at first not seeing a thing,” Mikayla Gaffney said, “But when I looked through my phone camera, I was blown away about how pretty they were!”

All across the U.S, Friday night was a remarkable encounter for many as they gazed upon the brilliant sky and experienced a once in a lifetime moment that will be remembered forever.