Barrage of solar explosions could bring auroras to the U.S. this weekend as Perseid meteor shower peaks

Three high-speed solar explosions known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are set to slam into Earth's magnetic field this weekend, bringing stunning auroras as far south as New York and Idaho. 

Striking Earth in succession on Aug. 9, 10 and 11, the CMEs will coincide with the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center alert. 

If a geomagnetic storm is triggered, the sun eruptions will create a curtain of shifting light through which the bright tails of the Perseid shooting stars can be seen.

NOAA predicts possible auroras this weekend in the northern parts of most states along the U.S.-Canada border, including Washington, Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and Maine. Here is the agency's latest aurora forecast.

The third and final CME, which burst from the sun's surface on Aug 8., "is moving faster than 1,000 km/s (2.2 million mph) and it will likely arrive no later than Aug. 11th, adding its effect to that of two earlier CMEs [which erupted on Aug. 7] already en route," according to an update from spaceweather.com.

CMEs originate from sunspots, regions on the sun's surface where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electrical charges, coil into knots before abruptly snapping. 

The massive  energy release can eject gigantic plumes of solar material from the sun's surface out into the solar system. Once launched, CMEs travel millions of miles per hour, sweeping up charged particles from the solar wind to form a giant, combined wavefront.