Flight Deck Aurora at 37,000 feet: View over Northern Canada

Flight Deck Aurora at 37,000 feet: View over Northern Canada

Photographer Matt Melnyk: "After nearly six months without seeing the aurora on my overseas flights to Europe due to the long daylight hours of the northern summer, it was great to finally see the Northern Lights again! This display was photographed at 37,000 feet over Hudson Bay while flying from Calgary, Canada, to London, UK. From above much of the lower atmosphere, the aurora was incredibly vivid with bright green curtains and pillars accompanied by beautiful red and magenta color higher in the display. It was a spectacular welcome back to dark skies on the transatlantic route. I'm super excited to see what the Equinox will bring on these flights!" 

Known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), auroras are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras.

Learn more about auroras: 
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/auroras/

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the second-largest country by total area with the longest coastline of any country. Its border with the United States is the longest international land border.

Image Credit: Matt Melnyk
Locations: Northern Manitoba, Hudson Bay and Baffin Island

Image Details: Canon R6 mark 2, with Canon RF 14mm F1.4 lens. shot at ISO 25,600, F1.4 and 0.8 sec exposure

Matt's website: https://www.melnykphotos.com
Date: Sept. 14, 2026

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