The Northern Lights or the Aurora Borealis is a beautiful sight to see, and residents in Nevada and California got a rare treat to see the lights dance through the sky Sunday night. Some clouds prevented the show from being as visible as it could have been, but the sky was clear enough at times to get some great photos sent into our newsroom Sunday night. A good camera with a high exposure helps to really capture the lights and the variety of colors that goes with it. The National Weather Service in Reno did say they saw one photo of the lights taken in Reno, but the exposure was pretty high, meaning you would not be able to see it with the naked eye.Â
We’ve seen reports on Twitter of the lights being spotted anywhere from Truckee to Topaz Lake, and Winnemucca. Not sure what the exposure was with each photo, but according to the National Weather Service this was one of the better displays we’ve had in a while. Thanks to infra-red technology, one of the fire cameras in Lyon County picked up on the Northern Lights too. One lady in Stillwater was able to capture the Northern Lights with her cellphone Sunday night.Â
The lights are forecasted to lift to the north on Monday, but will stay active Sunday night. So how does this happen? Storms don’t only happen on earth, but they can happen on the sun too. These storms leads to solar wind or coronal mass ejections. These ejections, which are like hiccups on the sun, then sends particles out into space. As these particles come in contact with the earth’s atmosphere a reaction occurs to cause a variety of colors dancing through the sky.Â
Oxygen creates a red or green light when combined with the sun’s particles and Nitrogen leads to a pink or blue light. The earth’s magnetic field and your viewing position has a lot to do with the shape of the aurora. You can find the aurora’s forecast by clicking on the link below.
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/aurora-dashboard-experimental
