Bright Aurora Borealis: View from Missouri
Astrophotographer Tyler Schlitt: " . . . This one single pillar took almost 30 mins to clear my frame. Then about two hours later the sky exploded with naked eye aurora. I was truly stunned on the show we had in the backyard as I was not expecting something of that magnitude to unfold."
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 that 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.
Capture Location: Washington, Missouri, United States
Photographer's website:
Image Date: Dec. 10, 2025
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