The Northern Lights were visible in the Philadelphia region Thursday evening as many residents took photos of the historic event.

The lights became visible around the Philly area Thursday evening central Pennsylvania got a glimpse of the Northern Lights earlier this week.

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Derrick Pitts, the chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute, took a photo of the aurora borealis from Wynnefield.

Viewers sent many photos of the Northern Lights to CBS News Philadelphia.

What are the Northern Lights?

The Northern Lights are visible when a solar flare spews large amounts of magnetized plasma, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), into space.

When these CMEs are aimed at Earth, they can create a geomagnetic stormwhich, according to NASA, causes a major disturbance in our magnetic field. These storms produce the Northern Lights, but can also cause power outages and sometimes radio interference.

Fortunately, the Philadelphia region was in the viewing line of the Northern Lights on Thursday evening. Earlier this year, Philadelphia was unlucky when the region got a chance to see the aurora in May.

Unfortunately, if you live in the city of Philadelphia, you probably didn’t get to see the lights on Thursday night.