LAPLAND, Finland (Reuters) — Green, purple, pink and yellow lights danced across the sky in striking aurora displays over northern Finland early on Friday (September 8), the result of collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere.
According to the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Centre there was a strong geomagnetic storm on September 6 and 7 connected to a coronal mass ejection observed on Monday (September 4).
Travel magazine “All About Lapland” editor Alexander Kuznetsov, who filmed the light show, said he had driven 500 kilometres to find clear skies to film the northern lights.
He said he had rarely seen anything on this scale.
Early autumn is a good time to enjoy northern lights. The phenomenon is known as aurora borealis, or the northern lights, in the northern hemisphere and as aurora australis, or the southern lights, in the southern hemisphere.
