Arizonans capture northern lights on the desert sky

Robert Ray, a resident of Eagar, Arizona, said he had dreamed of photographing northern lights since childhood, but he never imagined he would do it for the first time from his own backyard.

The lights were seen Sunday night all across Arizona, with people capturing pictures of them from Flagstaff all the way to south Tucson.

According to Kevin Strongman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tucson, the natural spectacle happened because of a geomagnetic storm, a disturbance on Earth's magnetic field caused by a chunk of plasma released from the sun's corona.

Ray said his plan was to do a trip to Iceland, Canada or Alaska only to take his dream photo of the lights, but when he heard that there was a possibility the aurora would be visible Sunday night in Arizona, he set up his camera and waited patiently.

But he didn't hold much hope.

"There's been a few times in the past where it's been forecast them that we might be able to (see northern lights), and every other time I struck out. But that wasn't the case last night," he said.

When he saw the rare phenomenon finally showcasing its red and pink colors on the late night desert sky, Ray said he jumped and squealed with joy.

"I was that excited to capture the northern lights," he said. "They were very faint to the naked eye, but could definitely tell they were there"

Solar activity on Sunday evening was particularly high, according to space scientist Mark Miesch with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center. The planetary K index, which is used to measure geomagnetic activity with a 1-9 scale, peaked at 8 around 9 p.m. on Sunday night and at 6 a.m. on Monday morning.

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According to Miesch, Sunday's storm was a category 4 out of 5, which allowed for the lights to be seen so far south.

The Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA-funded project based at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson, also captured a time lapse video of the rare event with one of its sky cameras.

"The solar activity has been intense enough that the Aurora Borealis can be seen down here in Tucson," CSS posted on Twitter.

Kristopher Klein, planetary sciences assistant professor at the University of Arizona, said he was surprised to see northern lights on Sunday night. "I was never expecting to see them quite this far down south in Arizona," he said.

"We're entering into a period called solar maximum in the solar cycle," Kline explained. "This happens every 11 years. It's relatively long in our time."

The geomagnetic storm was forecast to persist through Monday evening, but lights were not likely to be seen from Arizona again because solar wind was slowing down, Miesch said.

"But, I should add that it's quite likely that we'll have more of these level 4 storms in the next few years," Miesch said.

Miesch explained the solar cycle will peak next year, so Arizonans will likely have more opportunities to enjoy a space weather show like Sunday's in upcoming months.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Northern lights seen across Arizona