See Northern Lights photos, videos from dazzling show across U.S.

The northern lights brought a vibrant show across the United States overnight into Tuesday, including appearances in Minnesota, Michigan, Wyoming and as far south as Virginia, Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri. Sky watchers also reported sightings in Ontario, Canada; the Netherlands; Norway; Ireland; France and beyond.

“As soon as it got dark I could see the tallest pillars I’ve ever seen in Yellowstone. The show only lasted 10 minutes, but it was phenomenal,” David Kingham wrote to spaceweather.com.

Shayne Smith, in northern Michigan, described the lights to spaceweather.com as “bright enough to amply light up the ground and surrounding objects enough to see without a flashlight.”

Activity is forecast to wane Tuesday night, but the aurora could be visible at high latitudes in places like northern Canada, Alaska and far northern Europe.

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The northern lights, also known as the aurora, are generated when the sun sends a gush of energy and particles toward Earth, commonly through an explosion on the sun called a coronal mass ejection. When the particles reach Earth, they temporarily disturb the protective magnetic shield around our planet. Some solar particles travel along Earth’s magnetic field lines to enter our upper atmosphere, exciting nitrogen and oxygen molecules to release photons of light.

Some even reported sightings of a rare natural light phenomenon called STEVE, short for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, which appears sometimes in tandem with auroras and during geomagnetic storms but is generated through a different mechanism. Unlike the aurora, STEVE appears as a thin purple ribbon, sometimes accompanied by a green picket fence structure. Michigan and Wisconsin were among the places where people reported sightings.

Aurora and STEVE sightings tend to increase around the equinoxes, one of which is on Saturday. Some say that during this time, Earth’s magnetic field is in an optimal position to receive charged particles from the sun. Increased activity can be seen weeks before or after the equinox.

In one of the most unusual encounters I’ve ever seen, the Northern Lights bent into some sort of a DNA-like ladder, which included vibrant greens and pink STEVE.

What a night to remember. #wiwx pic.twitter.com/Ubrup2z6v3

Satellites showed that a coronal mass ejection occurred Saturday and reached Earth from Monday night into Tuesday morning, arriving earlier and stronger than originally forecast. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center reported that the activity generated a strong geomagnetic storm — a 3 on a scale that goes to 5 — that brought aurora sightings down to middle latitudes.

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The colors of the aurora depend on the type and altitude of the particle excited. Oxygen atoms located 120 miles above the surface shine red when excited but glow green from 60 to 120 miles. Excited nitrogen atoms glow pink or purple below 120 miles.

Northern lights sightings were more intense at higher latitudes, appearing as vivid undulating curtains of greens, purples and reds. Middle latitudes experienced dimmer red displays, perhaps less dynamic than they were farther north.

But aurora chasers were delighted to see the natural phenomenon regardless. Here are some beautiful aurora sightings from across the world:

Alaska

Colorado

Michigan

Minnesota

Montana

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Dakota

Virginia

Northern lights over Shenandoah National Park, Virginia last night. ✨

Beautiful, clear night with about half an hour of aurora visible to the unaided eye. pic.twitter.com/1h0eKSN7Lw

Wyoming

Canada

The Netherlands

Norway

These aurora pictures from last nights storm are incredible, will be sharing throughout the day as I have time

This beauty taken by Tommy Eliassen
September 18, 2023
Norway pic.twitter.com/M22VdTIhTX

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