New England Aurora

During an outburst of solar activity, colorful rays of the northern lights appeared to the camera, while there were faintly visible to the eyes. This lake in Maine at latitude 44 degrees is nowhere near the Arctic. In fact, faint aurora is frequently visible at this latitude range in the US, from New England to the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest, to Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Aurora is formed around the geomagnetic poles of the Earth. These poles are currently about 10 degrees off from the Earth geographic poles. The north geomagnetic pole is in Nunavut, Canada, sitting right above the eastern side of the US, giving an extra 10 degrees gain in magnetic latitude to North American observers, compared to the opposite side of Earth in Asia where seeing aurora from similar latitude is extremely rare.

Fine Art Print