MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — The aurora borealis graced the landscape here in the Mid-State this week, sending many running for their phones or marveling at the rare event.

“I stepped out the front door and saw them over my neighbor's house, and I was like, 'Oh! It was so bright, it looked so beautiful,'" said a local photographer, Colt Capperrune.

Ron Henderson, the chair of physics and astronomy at MTSU, says the northern lights appear when the sun flares — or exhibits explosions — raining particles down to Earth.

Every 11 years, there tends to be high activity like this. In the right conditions, when protons and electrons encounter oxygen, they manifest as gorgeous, sweeping colors painting the sky, even as far as Tennessee.

"What happens is, there's so many particles. They don't al

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