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Space
Space
Science
Daisy Dobrijevic

New Year's northern lights delight as powerful solar storms spark auroras across central US and Europe (photos)

New Year United States Aurora (Location) Earth Europe Sun Scotland Tamitha Skov Anadolu Finland
Northern lights in sky appear as red and green ribbons and pillars of light.

What a start to 2025!

While many celebrated New Year's Eve with bursts of glittering fireworks, Earth joined the festivities with a natural display of its own: the northern lights.

Two coronal mass ejections (CME) struck Earth's magnetic field, sparking geomagnetic storm conditions and painting the night sky with vivid aurora displays as far south as California U.S., Austria, and Germany. The geomagnetic storms waxed and waned throughout the night, creating a dynamic celestial fireworks show that stretched well into the new year.

What caused the strong auroras?

A coronal mass ejection (CME) struck Earth's magnetic field on Dec. 31 at 11:21 a.m. EST (16:21 GMT) and a second CME hit later that night.

When CMEs strike Earth's magnetosphere, they bring electrically charged particles called ions that collide with Earth's magnetic field. These collisions can spark geomagnetic storms. During these storms, ions collide with atmospheric gases, releasing energy in the form of light. This creates the stunning displays known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, in the Northern Hemisphere, and the southern lights, or aurora australis, in the Southern Hemisphere.

Geomagnetic storms are ranked by NOAA's G-scale, from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme). For most of New Year's Eve, G1 conditions were experienced with G2 levels reported at 5:44 a.m. EST (1044 GMT) on Jan. 1, according to NOAA. When the second CME struck Earth it further escalated geomagnetic disturbances. Strong G3 levels were reached on Jan. 1 at 9:10 a.m. EST (1410 GMT). Several hours later G4 levels were reached, indicating a severe geomagnetic storm was reached at 12:41 EST (1741 GMT).

More to come?

And it's not over yet! The sun started 2025 with a bang, hurling a new CME toward Earth, which could trigger more northern lights around Jan. 3 and Jan. 4, according to space weather physicist Tamitha Skov.

"Our Sun rings in the New Year! We just had a new #solarstorm launch from Region 3939 in the Earth-Strike Zone," Skov wrote in a post on X.

But first, let's look back at the incredible New Year's Eve display, with these spectacular northern lights photos.

Photographer Alex Nicodim celebrated the new year with a stunning aurora show above a ski slope in Levi, Finland.

Skywatchers enjoying the northern over a ski slope in Levi, Finland. (Image credit: Photo by Alex Nicodim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Nicodim and other skywatchers celebrating the new year were treated to an incredible northern lights display as tall pillars of green and red auroras filled the sky in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025.

Northern lights ring in the new year over a ski slope in Levi, Finland. (Image credit: Photo by Alex Nicodim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Photographer Hasan Akbas captured these stunning scenes above Alaska as the northern lights welcomed in the New Year.

Northern lights above Alaska, U.S. (Image credit: Photo by Hasan Akbas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Northern lights above Alaska, U.S. (Image credit: Photo by Hasan Akbas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Northern lights above Alaska, U.S. (Image credit: Photo by Hasan Akbas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Northern lights above Alaska, U.S. (Image credit: Photo by Hasan Akbas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The northern lights were even spotted dancing in the skies above the southeastern French village of La Roquebrussanne by photographer Yohan Laurito on Jan. 1.

Northern lights above La Roquebrussanne, southeastern France. (Image credit: YOHAN LAURITO/AFP via Getty Images)

Many skywatchers took to X to post incredible photos of the northern lights on New Year's Eve.

Simon Rennie managed to snap this incredible photo of fireworks AND aurora over New Year's in Finland.

Aurora chaser Mia Stålnacke captured these delightful photographs of the northern lights dancing alongside firework over Kiruna, Sweden.

"How the new year started here in Kiruna. With both natural and man made fireworks in the sky. I know which ones I prefer," Stålnacke wrote in a post on X.

Tour guide Halldor Sigurdsson captured this impressive video of the northern lights and fireworks filling the skies above Reykjavik, Iceland.

An eagle-eyed aurora chaser spotted the northern lights as far south as the Mojave Desert, U.S.

"Shockingly this G1 substorm is being detected all the way down at 35 Lat in the Mojave desert right now 9:20pm PST," Blue sky aloha wrote in a post on X.

Bad weather may have canceled a large portion of Hogmanay firework displays across Scotland, including Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations, but some lucky skywatchers were treated to an even more impressive show.

"What a way to bring in the New Year in bonny Scotland! Wishing you a happy & healthy 2025", Puja R. Mehta wrote in a post on X.

Amateur photographer Gary McIntyre shared this beautiful view of vivid red northern lights above Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

"Happy New Year to you all! Mother Nature put on her own display for the bells. All the very best for 2025!" McIntyre wrote in a post on X.

The northern lights were also visible over the Austrian Alps, with faint red hues captured by webcams in Saint Anton am Arlberg.

"Beautiful activity for 47°N considering Kp was ~4 (below storm threshold)!" aurora chaser Jure Atanackov wrote in a post on X.

Atanackov also shared webcam views of the northern lights from Bayerische Zugsptizbahn, south Germany.

"Central Europe got a pretty decent show, despite the geomagnetic activity never reaching even the G1 storm threshold. If only Bz had been more favourable," Atanackov wrote on X.

Editor's note: If you capture a stunning photo or video of the northern lights (or southern lights!) and want to share them with Space.com for a possible story, send images, comments on the view and your location, as well as use permissions to spacephotos@space.com.

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