Northern lights ignite night sky after rare double solar eruption, and more are forecast for tonight

A photograph of the northern lights over Iceland in 2020. .

A rare double solar eruption fueled a spectacular display of the northern lights overnight — and more auroras could be on the way.

Last weekend, two separate solar eruptions sent a pair of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — clouds of solar plasma and radiation — hurtling towards Earth. At least one of the CMEs hit our planet's magnetic field at around 1 p.m. EDT on Tuesday (April 15), creating geomagnetic storms and northern lights at high altitudes.