Streaks of shimmering green and red bands lit up the dark skies above Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, on Tuesday as the aurora provided a light show for early morning dog walkers, joggers and commuters.
Anchorage was not alone in seeing vivid displays of the aurora following a major disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field, with people also posting and sharing images across multiple regions.
The wide reach of the aurora extended overnight Monday and into Tuesday, according to the reporting that circulated with the event.
Social media posts included aurora photos from places such as Alaska, San Francisco, Chicago, Canada and across Europe, reflecting how broadly the display was visible during the nighttime-to-morning window.
The intense displays came amid intense geomagnetic and solar radiation storms, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center said.
The Space Weather Prediction Center had previously tied similar aurora activity to solar storm conditions in November, when it said vibrant auroras appeared in parts of Europe including Hungary and the United Kingdom.
It also said those November solar storms brought visible auroras as far south in the United States as Texas.