On September 26, a large solar coronal mass ejection smacked
into planet producing a severe geomagnetic storm and wide spread
auroras. Captured here near local midnight from Kvaløya island
outside Tromsø in northern Norway, the intense auroral glow was
framed by parting rain clouds. Tinted orange, the clouds are
also in silhouette as the tops of the colorful shimmering of
northern lights extend well over 100 kilometers above the
ground. Though the auroral rays are parallel, perspective makes
them appear to radiate from a vanishing point at Near the bottom
of the scene, an even more distant Pleiades star cluster and
bright planet Jupiter shine on this cloudy northern night.