northern lights

Latest about northern lights

The Subaru Telescope captured video of a mysterious, glowing swirl above Hawaii on April 17, 2022.

Shimmering 'night spiral' captured above Hawaii is actually a dying SpaceX rocket

By Elizabeth Howell published

The descent looked like a 'flying whirlpool' over Hawaii.

Space Exploration
Todd Salat captured auroras over Goðafoss waterfall in northern Iceland on April 14, 2022.

Stunning aurora glow above Iceland after 'dead' sunspot erupts

By Elizabeth Howell published

A sunspot that "awoke from the dead" last week triggered stunning aurora above Iceland.

The Sun
The brilliantly green northern lights on a dark night

Sudden eruption from 'dead' sunspot could bring auroras as far south as New York

By Elizabeth Howell published

After a dead sunspot hurled a ball of plasma toward Earth earlier this week, medium-sized auroras may stretch even farther south than usual.

The Sun
An image of the spinning orb of blue light moving across an aroura-filled sky in Alaska.

Chinese rocket photobombs aurora with spinning orb of light

By Harry Baker published

A spinning orb of light that slowly moved across the sky in Alaska on March 29 was actually frozen fuel left by a Chinese rocket, according to experts.

Space Exploration
A massive coronal mass ejection erupting from the sun in 2017.

'Cannibal' coronal mass ejection will hit Earth at nearly 2 million mph, scientists say

By Ben Turner published

The giant solar flare is a combination of two massive ejections from the sun's surface.

The Sun
The northern lights shine above mountains near Atigun Pass, Dalton Highway, Alaska.

NASA set to launch 2 rockets into the northern lights

By Stephanie Pappas published

Researchers plan to launch two rockets into the heart of the northern lights. Here's what they might find.

Space Exploration
Northern lights glow green and purple above Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Northern Lights: What are the aurorae borealis?

By Paul Sutter published

REFERENCE The northern lights appear in the sky when charged particles from the sun slam into molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of colorful lights.

REFERENCE
A powerful solar flare erupted from the sun on Monday (Dec. 20).

Solar storm may amp up northern lights before Christmas

By Tereza Pultarova published

A solar storm that erupted from the sun on Monday (Dec. 20) may boost northern lights displays around the north pole just ahead of Santa's trip this weekend.

The Sun
Earth is surrounded by a giant magnetic bubble called the magnetosphere, which is part of a dynamic, interconnected system that responds to solar, planetary and interstellar conditions.

41,000 years ago, auroras blazed near the equator

By Mindy Weisberger published

A geomagnetic event around 41,000 years ago sent the aurora wandering for centuries, as far south as the equator.

Planet Earth
The northern lights could heat up the next couple of nights during a strong geomagnetic storm. Here, the brightness and location of the aurora is shown as a green oval centered on Earth’s magnetic pole. The green ovals turn red when the aurora is forecasted to be more intense. 

Solar storm brings the Northern Lights to the northern US

By Stephanie Pappas published

A strong solar storm is creating aurora-friendly conditions as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon this week.

The Sun
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