Astrology

Pilot photographs northern lights for three hours during transatlantic flight

A pilot flying from Calgary to London captured the northern lights dancing beneath a star-filled sky on September 22, cruising at 37,000 feet in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Space.com reports. Matt Melnyk told the outlet in an email that the display lasted about three hours as he flew over northern Manitoba and Hudson Bay, and said, "It's nice to finally see them again."

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A second sighting this month#

Melnyk had already photographed the aurora during a similar flight on September 14, when it appeared over Manitoba and Hudson Bay, according to Space.com. He used a Canon EOS R6 Mark II with a Canon RF 14mm F1.4 L VCM lens to capture both displays, the outlet reports.

The aurora, or northern lights, forms when charged particles from the sun collide with oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, producing green, red and purple light, according to Wikipedia. In the Arctic the display is called the aurora borealis, and in the Antarctic the aurora australis.

Why the season looks promising#

Space.com reports that our star has moved beyond its solar maximum peak and is now in a declining, often turbulent, phase of its roughly 11-year solar cycle. Solar physicist Pal Brekke previously told the outlet that peak auroral activity tends to arrive a few years after solar maximum, which the outlet says can make the years that follow especially productive for aurora chasers.

September also benefits from the Russell-McPherron effect around the autumn equinox, when the geometry of Earth's magnetic field relative to the sun tends to raise geomagnetic activity, Space.com reports. That effect can let the solar wind's magnetic field connect more efficiently with Earth's, funneling energy toward the poles, according to the outlet.

Recent displays elsewhere#

The aurora borealis appeared over DeKalb, Illinois, on November 11, 2025, and was visible across more than 30 U.S. states, according to The Independent. The outlet attributed the display to the year's strongest solar storm, a coronal mass ejection, which pushed the lights as far south as parts of Florida.

The northern lights were visible without photo equipment across much of Scotland and as far south as Dorset, according to the BBC. The display featured swirling curtains of light in colors ranging from green to pink and scarlet, caused by charged solar particles striking gases in Earth's atmosphere.

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