MADISON, Wis. -- There is a chance of seeing the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, Friday night across southern Wisconsin, according to WISC-TV's chief meteorologist Gary Cannalte.

SLIDESHOW: View Images Of Northern Lights

The visibility of the northern lights depends on how much cloud cover is in the area, Cannalte said.

A viewer reported seeing the northern lights clearly on the horizon west of Darlington on Thursday night.

The best chances for viewing the northern lights would be away from city lights and in an area with a clear view of the northern horizon.

What Causes Northern Lights?

A strong solar flare occurred on the surface of the sun at 8:40 p.m. on Tuesday. This ejected a large number of electrons and protons from the sun that help make up the solar wind, essentially the byproducts of the thermonuclear reactions that fuel the sun, Cannalte said.

The solar wind travels at about 1 million mph, and since the earth is about 93 million miles away from the sun, it usually takes several days for bursts of these charged particles to reach the earth after a solar flare.

When the electrons and protons collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms at the top of our atmosphere, they give off visible light. The earth's magnetic field deflects the solar wind, resulting in the majority of these collisions occurring above the North and South Poles. When a large number of particles are present, as usually happens after a solar flare, the light from the collisions can be seen at lower latitudes.