24 photos of Alaska’s massive and bright aurora show

A massive aurora borealis visible across the state overnight Sunday is a sign of strong solar activity set to bring more sightings this week, scientists say.

Alaskans flocked to social media Sunday night to share their photos and videos of the aurora, many showing vibrant ribbons of color streaking across the sky.

Don Hampton, an associate professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute, said his cameras recorded aurora activity from 7 p.m. Sunday through 6 a.m. Monday.

“There was aurora in them all night long,” he said.

Hampton said he was struck by the sheer size of the aurora — visible overhead across much of Alaska ranging as far south as Sitka and Ketchikan.

He said the aurora, which is driven by solar winds interacting with Earth’s ionosphere, is on a rising trend toward a solar maximum — the peak of an 11-year cycle in auroral activity, expected to arrive in 2025. Sunday’s display was also fueled by an explosion of charged plasma from the sun, called “a coronal mass ejection.”

“And in this case,” he said, “that happened to be aimed right at us. And it was big enough and strong enough that it created this really sort of special auroral display.”

The intensity of the display resulted in latent red hues visible in the sky, mixing with greens. 

The next mass ejection from the sun is expected Monday.

“We’re probably going to see the second one hit sometime today or tonight, and so we’re likely to see more good aurora,” he said.

The institute’s auroral forecast calls for “highly active auroral displays” Monday over nearly all of Alaska, including Southcentral.

Here are some of our favorite photos of Sunday’s aurora borealis, gathered from across the state:

Thank you to all of the readers and listeners who shared their photos with us!