Current:Home > ScamsRed and green swirls of northern lights captured dancing in Minnesota sky: Video -MoneySpot
Red and green swirls of northern lights captured dancing in Minnesota sky: Video
View
Date:2025-04-17 06:43:28
A photographer in Minnesota was able to capture video of a mesmerizing northern lights display as swirls of red and green danced across the night sky.
Another geomagnetic storm made the colorful phenomena known as aurora borealis visible during the weekend across the Midwest region of the United States, and Carol Bauer was there to document it Sunday in Grand Marais.
“My husband and I traveled to Grand Marais to see the fall colors and were thrilled to get a great view of the northern lights too,” Bauer told Storyful.
Bauer is among millions of Americans who should expect to have more opportunities in the coming months to catch the striking display as the sun reaches the height of its 11-year cycle.
Watch the video Carol Bauer captured of the Northern Lights:
Northern lights visible across Midwest
Last week, a massive solar flare accompanied by coronal mass ejections – clouds of plasma and charged particles – made their way toward our planet, driving a geomagnetic storm that made the auroras visible in multiple northern U.S. states.
Though the the natural light display in Earth's sky is famously best seen in high-latitude regions of the northern and southern hemispheres, the northern lights became visible during the weekend across the U.S. In addition to Minnesota, the stunning display of rays, spirals and flickers could be seen in places along the U.S.-Canada border and even as far south as Oregon and Pennsylvania, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center.
Peak northern lights activity:What to know as sun reaches solar maximum
Peak aurora activity to coincide with height of solar cycle
Fortunately for aurora chasers, there will be far more opportunities to catch the northern lights soon.
Electromagnetic activity is increasing as the sun continues to reach the height of its 11-year solar cycle, which NASA said is expected to be in 2025.
As the sun reaches the peak of Solar Cycle 25, sunspots located in regions of intense magnetic activity should increase, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. When that magnetic activity is released, it creates intense bursts of radiation resulting in solar flares hurtling toward Earth at the speed of light.
Some of these flares can be accompanied by coronal mass ejections that emerge from the sun's outermost atmosphere, the corona.
These ejections can collide with Earth’s magnetosphere, the barrier protecting humanity from the harshest impacts of space weather, to produce geomagnetic storms that unleash spectacular views of the northern lights in parts of the country where auroras are not often visible.
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]
veryGood! (9)
Related
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Sarah Ferguson Shares Heartwarming Update on Queen Elizabeth II's Corgis One Year After Her Death
- NATO member Romania finds new drone fragments on its territory from war in neighboring Ukraine
- German intelligence employee and acquaintance charged with treason for passing secrets to Russia
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- IRS ramping up crackdown on wealthy taxpayers, targeting 1,600 millionaires
- 'The Fraud' asks questions as it unearths stories that need to be told
- Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis apologize for ‘pain’ their letters on behalf of Danny Masterson caused
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- Tens of thousands lack power in New England following powerful thunderstorms
Ranking
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- The African Union is joining the G20, a powerful acknowledgement of a continent of 1 billion people
- Andy Reid deserves the blame for Chiefs' alarming loss to Lions in opener
- After steamy kiss on 'Selling the OC,' why are Alex Hall and Tyler Stanaland just 'friends'?
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Residents and authorities in Somalia say airstrike caused several casualties including children
- Kevin Costner References Ex Christine Baumgartner’s Alleged “Boyfriend” in Divorce Battle
- 'Wait Wait' for September 9, 2023: With Not My Job guest Martinus Evans
Recommendation
Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
Two men questioned in Lebanon at Turkey’s request over 2019 escape of former Nissan tycoon Ghosn
'The Fraud' asks questions as it unearths stories that need to be told
Tens of thousands lack power in New England following powerful thunderstorms
New data highlights 'achievement gap' for students in the US
Biden finds a new friend in Vietnam as American CEOs look for alternatives to Chinese factories
Situation Room in White House gets $50 million gut renovation. Here's how it turned out.
Prominent activist’s son convicted of storming Capitol and invading Senate floor in Jan. 6 riot