Northern Lights Seen from E. Camino Cielo

Edhat reader Patti Gutshall captured a photo of the Northern Lights from E. Camino Cielo Road in Santa Barbara on Sunday evening.

“I did not see any colors, but this is from Nikon D850. Cameras can see what the eyes cannot,” said Gutshall.

A powerful geomagnetic storm took place throughout the United States on Sunday night making the colorful northern lights visible to more places than it usually is, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center.

The lights were predicted to be visible for most of the northern half of the United States and even making it as far south as Northern California and Alabama, according to NOAA.

As of Monday morning, there were reports of the lights seen into Southern California like Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

The geomagnetic storm was spurred on by an ongoing coronal mass ejection, which occurs when the sun spews large amounts of plasma and magnetic field out into space. The northern lights are caused by solar wind hitting Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere.

They are best viewed in a dark setting late at night or early in the morning. It may still be possible to see the lights on Monday evening, although having a camera handy to see what the eye cannot is preferred.