#aurora

#aurora

Earlier this week, the Sun unleashed a powerful X-class solar flare, a major burst of electromagnetically charged particles that lit up the Earth's night sky as they entered our planet's atmosphere. The effect was stunning: a dazzling display of auroras reaching as far as southern California. Forecasters that it was one of the largest solar storms in decades, making for a particularly unique opportunity to watch the show unfold.

From Iceland's Arctic Henge to snowy forests, the vistas represented in the 2025 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year contest highlight the visual symphony of geomagnetic light phenomena. Paired with distinctive landscapes, the images illuminate our planet's unique relationship with the sun. While photographers captured some scenes in subarctic regions where the northern lights are vivid and common, others created images farther south or in the opposite hemisphere, where the phenomenon is known as aurora australis.

Space weather forecasters issued an alert on Tuesday for incoming severe solar storms that could produce colorful northern lights and temporarily disrupt communications.In the past few days, the sun has burped out several bursts of energy called coronal mass ejections that could reach Earth Tuesday night and early Wednesday. The potential severe geomagnetic storms could disrupt radio and GPS communications, according to forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

From the beginning of northern lights season to a handful of comets, autumn has been excellent for North American stargazers. The fun will continue into November, with Comet Lemmon continuing to shine after sunset early in the month. Keep an eye on the aurora this November, too. The lights are expected to be exceptionally vivid this fall into winter; visit these aurora getaways to spot them. This is all on top of myriad other interstellar marvels on the horizon, including multiple meteor showers