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Photos
MPR News Staff

Photos: Northern lights painted Minnesota skies overnight

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A view of the northern lights near Bock in Mille Lacs County.
Courtesy of Ryan Borgan

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Updated: 10:28 a.m.

Photographers around the state shared some of their snapshots of the northern lights painting the skies pink, purple and green overnight and just before Friday sunrise.

These are a few of the images MPR News audience members shared with us on Facebook and via email.

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A view of the northern lights near Kimball, south of St. Cloud.
Courtesy of Jodie Milroy
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A view of the northern lights near New London in west-central Minnesota.
Courtesy of Dave Schneider
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A view of the northern lights near Goodridge in northwestern Minnesota.
Courtesy of Dallas Bothum
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A view of the northern lights on Green Lake near Spicer in west-central Minnesota.
Courtesy of Kyle Jordre
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A view of the northern lights near Wyoming, Minn., northeast of St. Paul.
Courtesy of Mary Hanson
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A view of the northern lights at the Superior National Forest in Ely.
Courtesy of Ely Mittens
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A view of the northern lights near Makinen, southeast of Eveleth in St. Louis County.
Courtesy of David Riewe
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A view of the northern lights near Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota.
Courtesy of Riley Connell
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A view of the northern lights on Lake Minnetonka, west of Minneapolis.
Courtesy of Gundula Be
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A view of the northern lights near Marcell Township in Itasca County, north of Grand Rapids
Courtesy of Rebecca Levitz

Photos from our neighbor states

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A view of the northern lights in northeastern Wisconsin, near Mountain.
Courtesy of Chris Clark-Carrier
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A view of the northern lights near Buffalo, N.D., west of Fargo.
Courtesy of Wendy Komrosky
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A view of the northern lights near Red Lake Falls in northwestern Minnesota.
Courtesy of Briana Ingraham

NASA instruments identified multiple solar flares — or coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — shooting out directly toward Earth, which usually result in vivid auroras. 

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, the potential viewing area of the aurora included most of Minnesota and Wisconsin.