Nature’s light show: Photos of Sunday night’s Northern Lights

RAPID CITY, S.D. – On Sunday night, a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) slammed into Earth’s atmosphere carrying millions of energized particles with it.

These particles caused the gas molecules in the atmosphere to become “excited.” This is the basic idea for how the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, is caused.

I had the opportunity to see them late into the night. About to get ready for bed, I realized that there was a lot of activity outside, so I quickly got ready and drove north of town.

Here are a few of the best pictures from my late night excursion:

I was still fairly close to the light pollution and there was a decent amount of light from the moon. However, the solar storm was so strong that none of that mattered.

I was able to make out the dancing faint green in the northern sky. Occasionally, I was able to make out some of the reds, but cameras are always better at showing all of the colors from nature’s light show.

I also created a time lapse during the time that I was out:

Full timelapse of the #aurora just north of Rapid City between 12:00 and 1:15 AM pic.twitter.com/LtiZ71ljN3

— Meteorologist Joey Kragness (@joey_kragness) February 27, 2023