Aurora season is back! Pilot captures spectacular northern lights from 37,000 ft

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Aurora season is well underway, folks, and pilotMatt Melnykarguably has one of the best seats in the house.

Cruising at 37,000 feet (11 kilometers) during a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight from Calgary, Canada, to London, U.K., Melnyk was treated to a spectacular view of thenorthern lightsdancing below a star-studded sky.

"It's nice to finally see them again", Melnyk told Space.com in an email. The show lasted about three hours as Melnyk flew over northern Manitoba and Hudson Bay on Sept. 22.

And this wasn't his first show of the season. Melnyk also photographed the northern lights during a similar flight on Sept. 14 when the display erupted over Manitoba and Hudson Bay once again.

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The dazzling shows herald the start of what could be a very promising northern lights season.The sunhas passed the peak of solar maximum and is in the declining — and often turbulent — phase of its approximately 11-yearsolar cycle.

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The combination can make the years followingsolar maximumparticularly fruitful for aurora chasers. Solar physicist Pål Brekkepreviously toldSpace.com that peak auroral activity tends to occur a few years after solar maximum.

For the techies

Melnyk captured the northern lights imagery with aCanon EOS R6 Mark IIpaired with a Canon RF 14mm F1.4 L VCM lens.

And there's another reason September can be a good month for aurora hunters. Around the spring and autumn equinoxes, geomagnetic activity tends to increase thanks in part to the Russell-McPherron effect. Due to the geometry ofEarth's magnetic fieldrelative to the sun, conditions become more favorable for thesolar wind's magnetic field to connect with Earth's, allowing energy to funnel more efficiently down to the poles.

With darker nights returning, a turbulent sun and a little help from the equinox, aurora season is certainly off to a promising start.

Skywatching Editor

Daisy Dobrijevic joined Space.com in February 2022, having previously worked as a staff writer for All About Space magazine. She completed an editorial internship with BBC Sky at Night Magazine and worked at the National Space Centre, communicating space science to the public.

Daisy holds a PhD in plant physiology and a Master's in Environmental Science. Based in Nottingham, U.K., she covers all things space, with a special focus on solar activity and space weather. She also has a keen interest in astrotourism and is always on the lookout for the next northern lights adventure.

She will be a guest speaker aboardHX's Solar Eclipse Expeditionin August 2026 and will join Hurtigruten as anonboard astronomerfor a northern lights sailing in January 2027.

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