Many people in the Chicago area Thursday night and Friday morning took a peek outside to see the northern lights.
People at Foster Beach and across Chicagoland were in for a dazzling and rare northern lights show.
Groups of sky gazers gathered at the beach late Thursday night to see the skies over the Windy City transform into rare and beautiful hues of green pink and red.
Video from McHenry County shows the skies there light up with greens and reds.
Pictures sent to ABC7 from as far away as Wauconda and Hawthorn Woods showed just how many people could take in this rare phenomenon.
This is all because of an outburst from the sun detected earlier this week...which resulted in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue a severe geomagnetic storm watch.
Northern lights were triggered as far south as the lower Midwest.
Two friends said it was special experiencing the northern lights as a community at Foster Beach.
"It was really, really cool to see first just the green and then eventually see the red pop in. It was really beautiful. It was also really cool to be out here with community with other people," Mel Ruder and Emily Holtzman said.
Sky gazers should use their phones to help enhance the experience. The devices can often capture some auroras that the human eye cannot see.
ABC7 Meteorologist Jaisol Martinez said according to a space weather forecast, the aurora borealis is unlikely to return this weekend unless the sun has another solar flare.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week. Such a storm could temporarily disrupt power and radio signals.
The sun is near the peak of its current 11-year cycle, sparking all the recent solar activity.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.