Northern lights 2023: Aurora borealis visible in Illinois, Michigan Sunday

CHICAGO -- The aurora borealis, or northern lights, were seen across North America Sunday night.

Video shows the lights in Wall Lake in Delton, Michigan; in Chassell in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula; near Good Hope, Illinois; and over Wyoming from the window of an Alaska Airlines flight traveling from Seattle to Orlando.

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Robert Steenburgh, a space scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center, told ABC News why sightings were so widespread.

"There were several factors at play, but the strength and orientation of the magnetic field in the "plasma blob" (or Coronal Mass Ejection) that passed earth were the key elements. That, coupled with some clear skies in the right places meant a vivid auroral display," Steenburgh said.