- A video shows the Northern Lights over Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire
- Photographer Gal Steinberg shot a seven-hour timelapse to capture the moment
- The lights are the result of space electrons colliding with atoms from Earth’s upper atmosphere
A stunning timelapse video has captured dazzling green, orange and purple light illuminating the sky at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.
Gal Steinberg, a photographer from Center Harbor, New Hampshire, filmed for seven hours to capture the rare phenomenon over the weekend.
Vibrant colors can be seen above the water, resulting from an eruption of charged particles from the Sun, known as coronal mass ejection (CME), interacting with Earth’s atmosphere.
Although the Northern Lights in the U.S. can only be seen in Alaska, this blinding light expanded south as the CME intensified Sunday evening.
New Hampshire skywatchers shared beautiful photos of the aurora borealis on social media, showing lights dancing in the bright, clear night sky.
Photos shared by Steven Hutchins captured the unusual red and pink colors passing in front of the Milky Way.
Gal Steinberg, a photographer from Center Harbor, New Hampshire, created a seven-hour timelapse and captured the most compelling part of this rare phenomenon
Hutchins explained in his response to one social media user that these colors can only be captured in long exposure photos.
‘This is a 20 second exposure. The naked eye simply cannot capture 20 seconds of light the way a camera can. Earlier in the evening I could see a dull red, but not as bright,” he wrote.
An 11-year solar cycle expected to peak in 2024 has made the lights visible not only in New Hampshire, but also in states along the U.S.-Canada border and as far south as Texas and North Carolina.
Ahead of the arrival of intense CMEs around 2 p.m. EST Sunday, the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, warned of a “moderate” geomagnetic storm with a rating of G2 on a scale of one to five.
These vibrant colors result from a burst of charged particles from the Sun, known as coronal mass ejection (CME), interacting with Earth’s atmosphere.
CMEs “can produce some of the largest geomagnetic storms and thus some of the brightest and most active auroras that extend furthest toward the equator,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains.
The Northern Lights produce neon green waves in the dark night sky when electrons from space collide with atoms and molecules from the upper parts of Earth’s atmosphere.
The lights are usually more visible closer to the equinox – the longest days of sunlight in the year. Auroras usually occur every 27 days.
A few months ago, stargazers in as many as 17 US states were amazed by the Northern Lights as solar winds hit the atmosphere.
In April 2023, viewers in Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, North Dakota, Indiana, South Dakota, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Montana and New York also confirmed the rare sighting that lasted up to 30 minutes.
