A solar storm caused the aurora borealis phenomenon to be visible in the sky across much of the United States during the second week of May, including in the South. Possible sightings could continue this week.

Georgians looked up this weekend as the night skies put on an incredible light show that appeared even more vivid when captured with a camera.

From Appling to Bainbridge and Skidaway Island to Toccoa, people across the state shared their images with swirls of deep violets, greens and pinks that glowed around midnight Friday and again Saturday night into Sunday.

The visual effects are due to powerful coronal mass ejections. According to NPR, this type of solar activity "produces energized particles that interact with gasses in the Earth's atmosphere and produce auroras that hover around its poles."

NASA stated that the color of the aurora depends on which gas is being excited by the electrons and on how much energy is being exchanged. Oxygen emits either a greenish-yellow light (the most familiar color of the aurora) or a red light; nitrogen generally gives off a blue light. The oxygen and nitrogen molecules also emit ultraviolet light, which can only be detected by special cameras on satellites.

The event is known as aurora borealis around the North Pole and the aurora australis around the South Pole. 

Its nickname is "Northern Lights" but Southerners were excited to share in the rare experience and took to social media to post their amazing photos.

Below are views from around the state.

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