Breathtaking Photos Capture Northern Lights Over Ohio

Ohioans took to social media with stunning photos capturing a phenomenon that’s most often observed in Norway, Iceland and other northern countries.

Residents in the northern areas of the Buckeye State got to catch a rare glimpse of the northern lights on Monday (October 11). It happened because of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun on Saturday (October 9), so NASA issued a geomagnetic storm watch to alert that the lights could be seen in the northern U.S., Cleveland’s WKYC-TV explained. The station also shared some photos from viewers who saw the lights in Ohio.

The National Weather Service Cleveland shared an image of the northern lights from space, shortly before 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday (October 12):

“The #NorthernLights were captured on a The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satelllite imagery just a little while ago. Here is a look from Space!”

Check out these photos of the northern lights over Ohio:

The northern lights are “one of several astronomical phenomena called polar lights (aurora polaris), are shafts or curtains of colored light visible on occasion in the night sky,” according to the Library of Congress. It adds: “Colors and patterns are from the types of ions or atoms being energized as they collide with the atmosphere and are affected by lines of magnetic force. Displays may take many forms, including rippling curtains, pulsating globs, traveling pulses, or steady glows. Altitude affects the colors.”