A Magnetic Storm Rips Through Earth's Magnetosphere During the month of March, 1989, a scientist strolling outside Arizona's Kitt Peak National Observatory observed a red glow in the night sky that he thought was caused by forest fires. Then, seeing a greenish fringe and vertical streamers stretching like ribbons above the horizon, he realized what it was – the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. It was very unusual to witness this mysterious and awe-inspiring phenomenon so far south of the arctic region, where they are a common sight. Their appearance on this night was made possible by a series of events that began several days before on the Sun's surface, some 150 million kilometers away. The 1989 magnetic storm caused a blackout of the Hydro-Quebec power system in Canada, leaving 6 million people in Canada and the U.S. without power for nine hours.