Red and green Northern Lights have been seen across the U.S. and the world from regions that rarely see displays after one of the most powerful geomagnetic storms in the last twenty years.
Here are some of the best photos of this rare and spectacular aurora borealis (Northern Lights) and aurora australis (Southern Lights) event from across the globe:
Every U.S. state save for Hawaii glimpsed an aurora borealis display overnight on Thursday, Oct.11, through Friday, Oct. 12, while all of Europe — as far south as Turkey — and China also witnessed the event.
With the storm still ongoing in the U.S., those with clear skies should head outside. Be patient; substorms are being predicted for the rest of the night. Monitor NOAA’s Aurora Dashboard, specifically for its 30-minute forecast and X account.
A G4 (Severe) and possibly even more potent geomagnetic storm occurred after a particularly fast-moving coronal mass ejection — a cloud of charged particles from the sun — erupted from the sun on Oct. 8 in the wake of the strongest solar flare in the current solar cycle.
That CME moved at 2.5 million miles per hour, according to NOAA. “It’s the fastest CME we have measured in this solar cycle thus far,” said Shawn Dahl, Service Co-ordinator at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, in a press briefing on Wednesday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a forecast for a G4 (Severe) geomagnetic storm for both Thursday and Friday, though the latest prediction is for the aurora to be visible at low latitudes only in the early hours of Friday, Oct. 11.
That proved correct, with displays of aurora — including vast red pillars — waxing and waning throughout the night, varying in intensity and occasionally reaching severe storm conditions.
The CME struck Earth at 11:17 a.m. EDT (1517 GMT), disrupting the Earth’s magnetic field and quickly achieving G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm conditions at 12:57 p.m. EDT (1657 GMT), according to NOAA.
NOAA warned on Oct. 10 that the upcoming severe geomagnetic storm conditions disrupt satellite communications, power grids and GPS services, possibly affecting ongoing recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
Although G4 storms can generally be seen as far south as Alabama and northern California, at least a faint photographic aurora was visible from most U.S. states.
The displays caused a spike in the Kp index, whic indicates the level of geomagnetic activity around Earth. During the night it reached Kp 9 — the highest there is — which NOAA defines as aurora moving towards the equator to become very bright and active.
“These are the events that create the best aurora, and the extended auroral oval will be observable by most people,” states NOAA’s website. “At these levels, the aurora may be seen directly overhead from the northern states of the U.S.”
Geomagnetic activity is at its strongest for 20 years because the sun is close to a particularly intense “solar maximum” — the peak of its 11 year solar cycle — and also close to the equinox, when Earth’s axis is tilted side-on to the sun.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center’s latest forecast has the sun reaching solar maximum between August 2024 and January 2025, though on Tuesday, Oct. 8, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center and NASA announced that a media teleconference for Tuesday, Oct. 15, to discuss the sun’s activity and the progression of Solar Cycle 25.
More frequent and powerful geomagnetic storms, leading to intense and widely observable Northern Lights, are expected to continue through 2026.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
