northern lights

Latest about northern lights

An image of the spinning orb of blue light moving across an aroura-filled sky in Alaska.

Chinese rocket photobombs aurora with spinning orb of light

By Harry Baker published

A spinning orb of light that slowly moved across the sky in Alaska on March 29 was actually frozen fuel left by a Chinese rocket, according to experts.

Space Exploration
A massive coronal mass ejection erupting from the sun in 2017.

'Cannibal' coronal mass ejection will hit Earth at nearly 2 million mph, scientists say

By Ben Turner published

The giant solar flare is a combination of two massive ejections from the sun's surface.

The Sun
The northern lights shine above mountains near Atigun Pass, Dalton Highway, Alaska.

NASA set to launch 2 rockets into the northern lights

By Stephanie Pappas published

Researchers plan to launch two rockets into the heart of the northern lights. Here's what they might find.

Space Exploration
Northern lights glow green and purple above Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Northern Lights: What are the aurorae borealis?

By Paul Sutter published

REFERENCE The northern lights appear in the sky when charged particles from the sun slam into molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of colorful lights.

REFERENCE
A powerful solar flare erupted from the sun on Monday (Dec. 20).

Solar storm may amp up northern lights before Christmas

By Tereza Pultarova published

A solar storm that erupted from the sun on Monday (Dec. 20) may boost northern lights displays around the north pole just ahead of Santa's trip this weekend.

The Sun
Earth is surrounded by a giant magnetic bubble called the magnetosphere, which is part of a dynamic, interconnected system that responds to solar, planetary and interstellar conditions.

41,000 years ago, auroras blazed near the equator

By Mindy Weisberger published

A geomagnetic event around 41,000 years ago sent the aurora wandering for centuries, as far south as the equator.

Planet Earth
The northern lights could heat up the next couple of nights during a strong geomagnetic storm. Here, the brightness and location of the aurora is shown as a green oval centered on Earth’s magnetic pole. The green ovals turn red when the aurora is forecasted to be more intense. 

Solar storm brings the Northern Lights to the northern US

By Stephanie Pappas published

A strong solar storm is creating aurora-friendly conditions as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon this week.

The Sun
The northern lights are seen over Teriberka, Russia, a village with the population of about 1,000 people, located some 120 km away from the city of Murmansk on the Russian Arctic coast on Oct. 30, 2021.

Halloween northern lights from huge solar flare thrill skywatchers

By Tariq Malik published

A huge solar flare from the sun has spawned a Halloween northern lights show that has stargazers over the moon.

Planet Earth
An aurora spotted from the International Space Station.

Solar storm hits Earth, bringing northern lights to New York

By Chelsea Gohd published

A solar storm hit Earth and brought with it a spectacular light show visible as far south as New York.

The Sun
This drawing by Adam Paulsen shows his observation of the aurora from Godthaab, Greenland, on Nov. 15, 1882.

People have long claimed to hear the northern lights. Are the reports true?

By Fiona Amery published

People have long claimed they can hear the northern lights, saying the sounds include eerie whizzing, crackling and buzzing. Is it just an auditory illusion?

Planet Earth
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Archives