Solar Storm Puts on Out-of-This-World Northern Lights Show

Unless you live in Alaska, the closest you've likely gotten to seeing the Northern Lights was on a school trip to the planetarium. Top 10 school trip, for sure. But the real life version is way cooler.

And this week, folks in dark places in New York, Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota were treated to a live show of the Aurora Borealis, all thanks to a geomagnetic event.

The storm hit Tuesday around 10am EST when coronal mass ejections from the sun -- full of gas and magnetic fields -- dragged the Northern Lights down, giving chunks of the US, Canada, the UK, Finland, and other northern European countries views they've probably never been able to get on Instagram before.

In case you weren't camping out in a remote forest in Michigan on Tuesday night, here are a few spectacular photos of what you missed: