Aurora Pictures: Rare Northern Lights Seen in U.S. South

Rare Red Aurora

Photograph by Jay Malone, My Shot

The northern lights create as a ruby-red haze in the night sky over Arkansas late Monday.

Auroras are created when charged solar particles collide with molecules in Earth's atmosphere, infusing the molecules with extra energy that then gets emitted as light.

Familiar green auroras appear lower in the atmosphere, around 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the surface. The light is actually a mix of colors, but the human eye is most attuned to the green part of the spectrum, according to the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Sometimes, however, an influx of slower moving, less energetic particles can make auroras appear higher in the atmosphere, around 185 to 310 miles (300 to 500 kilometers). At these altitudes, the light displays are pure red.

(Also see "Aurora Pictures: 'Severe' Sun Storm Brightens Skies.")

Published October 25, 2011

Lights Over Kansas

Photograph courtesy Jim Hammer

The star-spangled sky over Kansas is interrupted by a rare auroral glow in a fisheye picture taken Monday night.

The northern lights weren't visible to the naked eye, according to photographer Jim Hammer. But the sky show came alive in long-exposure pictures, like this one snapped about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Wichita (map).

(Watch a time-lapse video of auroras seen from an airplane.)

Published October 25, 2011

Saturated Skies

Photograph courtesy Shawn Malone

The northern lights seem to create a big red spot amid a sky full of green auroras in a picture taken very early Tuesday from Marquette, Michigan (map).

The sun has been ramping up its activity over the past year, heading toward the next maximum in its roughly 11-year cycle.

Eruptions from the solar surface have been linked to coronal mass ejections (CME), huge clouds of particles that can come hurtling from the sun's upper atmosphere in any direction. Monday's auroral display was most likely caused by a CME on Saturday that was aimed at Earth.

More frequent CMEs have some experts worried about the risks sun storms pose to satellites and the power grid-but often the particles' most noticeable effects on Earth are brilliant auroras.

Published October 25, 2011

Sweet Home Alabama

Photograph courtesy Jonathan Stone

A rare red glow hangs over Alabama in a picture of auroras taken Monday night from Baileyton (map).

Alerts of the incoming CME had many photographers racing outside Monday night to capture the show—even in places where auroras are very rare. People farther north reported seeing especially dazzling displays, while those in the south were amazed to see the lights for the first time in years.

"The auroras only [lasted] a few minutes. But hey it was awesome!" veteran astrophotographer Jeff Berkes, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, said in an email to Space.com.

"Haven't seen them here since September 2001."

(Related: "Solar Flare Sparks Biggest Eruption Ever Seen on Sun.")

Published October 25, 2011

Superior Sky Show

Photograph courtesy Shawn Malone

Hints of red peek through the bright green auroras seen over Lake Superior in a picture taken from Marquette, Michigan, early Tuesday.

Treated to a similar view over the lake from nearby Munising Bay (map), Tom Dolaskie IV told Space.com that the aurora was "hands down the most amazing northern lights display that I have ever witnessed.

"Frankly, [it was] a setting that a photograph simply cannot capture. My friends and I were lucky to have witnessed it."

Also see "Aurora Pictures: Deep-Sky Lights Revealed" >>

Published October 25, 2011