Aurora over Canada from the Flight Deck
As forecast, a coronal mass ejection (CME) struck Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 1st (2100 UTC). A CME is a significant ejection of plasma mass from the Sun into the heliosphere. The heliosphere is the magnetosphere, astrosphere, and outermost atmospheric layer of the Sun. The impact was abrupt and strong, bringing solar winds faster than 600 km/s (1.3 million mph), and a G2-class geomagnetic storm. Pilot Matt Melnyk photographed the auroras from the cockpit of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft flying over Canada's Hudson Bay. Note: The aircraft flight deck, commonly known as the cockpit, is the area where pilots control the plane.
Photographer Matt Melnyk: "While flying the Dreamliner from Calgary to London UK, this was the view from 37,000 feet over Northern Manitoba, and Hudson Bay. Unfortunately, I don't think most of Canada was able to enjoy the show due to the amount of cloud cover I saw below. But lucky for me, I got to witness amazing colors such as green, red, purple, pink, white and even orange which is a rare color to see. I am very fortunate to be able to fly the Dreamliner across the Atlantic and witness these amazing shows all year long!"
On Earth, auroras are mainly created by particles originally emitted by the Sun in the form of solar wind. When this stream of electrically charged particles gets close to our planet, it interacts with the magnetic field, which acts as a gigantic shield. While it protects Earth’s environment from solar wind particles, it can also trap a small fraction of them. Particles trapped within the magnetosphere—the region of space surrounding Earth in which charged particles are affected by its magnetic field—can be energized and then follow the magnetic field lines down to the magnetic poles. There, they interact with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, creating the flickering, colorful lights visible in the polar regions here on Earth.
Earth auroras have different names depending on the pole they occur at. Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights, is the name given to auroras around the north pole and Aurora Australis, or the southern lights, is the name given for auroras around the south pole.
The Colors of the Aurora (U.S. National Park Service)
Image Credit: Matt Melnyk
Matt's website:
Location: Northern Ontario & Hudson Bay
Image Date: Sept. 1, 2025
Release Date: Sept. 2, 2025
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