Aurora Storm of May 2024

From the photographer: “The incredible night of 2024 May 10 when the most intense geomagnetic storm in more than 20 years sparked an aurora across both hemispheres. The lower the latitude, the darker the sky needed to be to see it. I was an hour north of Boston, at Nubble Lighthouse in York, southern Maine. The northern lights were overhead and even across the southern horizon, the way an aurora storm would normally be seen in the Arctic! It was mostly colorless to the naked eye, but I saw vibrant red and purple patches during the peak.

This was near the height of the 11-year solar cycle when active sunspots are abundant. They eject major eruptions from the sun, and when the particles hit the Earth’s magnetic field, strong aurora displays happen. Some photographers captured this aurora storm, as a red glow just above the horizon, from even tropical latitudes, places where the phenomenon hasn’t been reported in decades.”