Northern lights danced across the sky this week. See how they looked from space
The northern lights were visible from more areas of the U.S. than usual this week, forecasts showed. Photos from space captured the beautiful scenes.
“Absolutely spectacular aurora today!,” NASA astronaut Bob Hines tweeted on Aug. 17, sharing a collection of photos taken from the International Space Station.
The photos showed the Northern lights – bands of green light topped with pink hues – dancing above Earth’s surface. The lights seemed to curl around, forming semi-circular ribbons.
Slightly lower in the atmosphere, a person flying from Seattle to Anchorage captured the Northern lights before they faded out of sight the morning of Aug. 18. The photos showed the wing of a plane, glowing red-orange in the sunrise, with a line of green auroras in the background.
Noctilucent clouds are Earth's highest clouds, at ~250k ft. After 8yrs of missing them, finally got them early this morning on SEA-ANC flight, 1:30AKDT (930z). The Aurora was at its weakest point of the day (HP in the teens), still a good show. Original pics, no edit @TamithaSkov pic.twitter.com/SDt6L6KG0r
— Hongming Zheng (@ZhengHongming) August 19, 2022
Down on the ground, people across the U.S. photographed their view of the aurora light show.
In Alaska, photos from Glacier Bay National Park showed the green and pink ribbons “decorating” the sky and stretching toward the horizon, the park service said in an Aug. 18 tweet.
First northern lights of the season!
During summer, the sun stays up so long that the night sky isn’t dark enough for the aurora to be visible. Now that we’re entering late August, stars are decorating our night skies again… When we can see them through the clouds! pic.twitter.com/W4MhN8GHW2— Glacier Bay NP (@GlacierBayNPS) August 18, 2022
In Sequim, Washington, a person photographed the aurora hovering above the horizon, city lights shining underneath, an Aug. 18 tweet showed.
Naked eye visible aurora band last night from Sequim, WA just before midnight. Unsettled conditions.
August 17th 2022 Fuji XE-4 w/ 16mm 1.4 @TamithaSkov @timdurkan @NWSSeattle @FujifilmX_US @spacewxwatch @ShannonODKOMO @RandySmall pic.twitter.com/PCVbrLwsMq— Jeff Knesebeck ️ (@AuroraSlayerWA) August 18, 2022
Photos from the beach shore in Michigan caught the lights shimmering in the night sky, Focus Frankfort posted on Instagram on Aug. 18.
The auroras were visible to a larger geographic audience because of “geomagnetic storms” on the Sun’s surface that caused an increase in aurora activity.
Unfortunately, many people in the “North American mid-latitudes” – such as those in the central U.S. – could not see the auroras due to a drop in activity, meteorologist Anthony Torres explained in an Aug. 18 tweet.
In Indiana, viewers questioned whether they saw the Northern lights or a cloud before deciding it was the former.
Forecasts from the University of Alaska Fairbanks expect another surge in aurora activity from Sept. 3 to Sept. 5 when the Northern lights may again be visible in more areas of the U.S. than usual.
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