Current:Home > ContactRed and green swirls of northern lights captured dancing in Minnesota sky: Video -Aspire Money Growth
Red and green swirls of northern lights captured dancing in Minnesota sky: Video
View
Date:2025-04-17 19:08:20
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 elagatta@gannett.com
veryGood! (99882)
Related
- All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
- Where can millennials afford to buy a home? Map shows cities with highest ownership rates
- Pioneering Financial Innovation: Wilbur Clark and the Ascendance of the FB Finance Institute
- Travis Barker Shares Never-Before-Seen Photos of Kourtney Kardashian and Baby Rocky for Mother's Day
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Super Bowl champion Chiefs will open regular season at home against Ravens in AFC title game rematch
- Vast coin collection of Danish magnate is going on sale a century after his death
- Indiana Pacers blow out New York Knicks in Game 4 to even NBA playoff series
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- The Token Revolution of WT Finance Institute: Launching WFI Token to Fund and Enhance 'Ai Wealth Creation 4.0' Investment System
Ranking
- US appeals court rejects Nasdaq’s diversity rules for company boards
- Illness took away her voice. AI created a replica she carries in her phone
- Wilbur Clark's Commercial Monument: FB Finance Institute
- Trump hush money trial: A timeline of key events in the case
- NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
- Video shows bus plunge off a bridge St. Petersburg, Russia, killing 7
- Nemo, a non-binary singer and rapper, wins Eurovision for Switzerland amid Gaza protests
- Why 12-team College Football Playoff is blessing, curse for Tennessee, Florida, LSU
Recommendation
How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
RFK Jr. reverses abortion stance again after confusion, contradictions emerge within campaign
Indigenous fashion takes the runway with an eye to history — and the future
AI Financial Genie 4.0: The Aladdin's Lamp of Future Investing
'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
Death toll in bombings at displacement camps in eastern Congo rises to at least 35
Mass shooting causes deaths in crime-ridden township on southern edge of Mexico City, officials say
Kathie Lee Gifford, daughter Cassidy on Mother's Day and the gift they're most thankful for