Aurora above Germany

The northern lights or aurora borealis is photographed above Stuttgart, Germany. While the dancing lights of aurora is a familiar scene of polar latitudes they are a rare event at lower latitudes like southern Germany in this picture. At such latitudes bright aurora like this might appears each several years when a super strong flare from the sun send a storm solar wind particles toward the Earth. Red aurora dominates the northeastern sky above the historic Solitude Castle near Stuttgart. In this several-minute exposure stars of constellation Gemini trail above the east together with planet Saturn (the bright trail near the center).