Northern lights

COMPOSITE IMAGE -- This Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellite network image uses a combination of infrared data with a specialized visual sensor that can see lights at night. The aurora is seen from the Dakotas through Maine on Oct. 29. (Courtesy image)

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Northern lights

COMPOSITE IMAGE -- This Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellite network image uses a combination of infrared data with a specialized visual sensor that can see lights at night. The yellow streak shows a vigorous aurora over Norway and Sweden on Oct. 30. (Courtesy image)

Photo Details / Download Hi-Res

Satellite captures northern lights

Published Oct. 31, 2003
By Paige Hughes
Air Force Weather Agency Public Affairs

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AFPN) -- The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program captured images of the northern lights Oct. 30, as they transcended their normal polar location.

Geomagnetic storms caused the aurora borealis, or northern lights, to move toward the equator, giving people in the continental United States and Europe a spectacular nighttime sight, officials said.

Heightened solar activity creates peaks in solar emissions that travel to Earth and interact with the atmosphere. On Earth, electromagnetic signals can be directly affected by the interference of atmospheric disturbances caused by solar emissions, officials said.

Northern lights

Northern lights

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