What a great start to 2025!
While many celebrate New Year’s Eve with sparkling fireworks, Earth joins in the festivities with its own natural show: northern lights.
Two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) struck the Earth’s magnetic field, triggering geomagnetic storms and painting vivid aurora skies as far south as California, Austria and Germany. The geomagnetic storm waxes and wanes throughout the night, creating a dynamic celestial fireworks display that continues into the New Year.
What causes powerful auroras?
Coronal mass ejection (CME) hits Earth’s magnetic field December 31, 11:21 a.m. ET (16:21 GMT) Later that night, a second CME appeared.
when continuing medical education When they hit Earth’s magnetosphere, they bring with them charged particles called ions, which interact with Earth’s magnetic field. These collisions could trigger geomagnetic storms. During these storms, ions collide with atmospheric gases, releasing energy in the form of light. This creates a stunning sight known as the Northern Lights in the Northern Hemisphere, or the Aurora Australis, or Aurora Australis, in the Southern Hemisphere.
Geomagnetic storms are ranked according to NOAA’s G scale, ranging from G1 (mild) to G5 (extreme). Having experienced G1 conditions for most of New Year’s Eve, G2 levels were reported at 5:44 a.m. ET (1044 GMT) on January 1, According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. When the second coronal mass ejection hit the Earth, the geomagnetic disturbances escalated further. Strong G3 levels were reached on January 1 at 9:10 AM ET (1410 GMT). reached G4 levels after a few hours, indicating severe geomagnetic storm Arriving at 12:41 EST (1741 GMT).
Will there be more?
And it’s not over yet! The sun started 2025 with a bang, throwing a new coronal mass ejection towards EarthSpace weather physicist Tamitha Skov said this could trigger more northern lights around January 3 and 4.
“Our sun rings in the New Year! We just launched a new #solarstorm from Region 3939 of Earth’s impact zone,” Skoff wrote in a post. Post on X.
Our sun is about to usher in the New Year! We just launched a new #solarstorm from Earth’s Impact Zone 3939. (Watch the development of the dimming region near the Sun’s center.) Although the light on the coronagraph so far is weak, this may bring another chance for #aurora during January 3rd and 4th! pic.twitter.com/ueLSSlP128January 1, 2025
But first, let’s take a look back at the incredible New Year’s Eve display, and these spectacular photos of the Northern Lights.
Photographer Alex Nicodim celebrated the New Year with a stunning aurora show on a ski slope in Levi, Finland.
In the early morning hours of January 1, 2025, Nicodemus and other skywatchers celebrating the New Year witnessed an incredible display of the Northern Lights, with tall green and red aurora columns filling the sky.
Photographer Hasan Akbas ushered in the new year by capturing these stunning scenes of the Northern Lights over Alaska.
On January 1, photographer Yohan Laurito even spotted the Northern Lights dancing over the village of La Roquebrussanne in southeastern France.
Many astronomy enthusiasts posted incredible photos of the Northern Lights on New Year’s Eve on X.
Simon Rennie managed to capture this incredible photo of Finland’s New Year fireworks and aurora.
Happy New Year Happy New Year from Finnish Lapland #aurora #lapland pic.twitter.com/HRCEyGbUPgDecember 31, 2024
Aurora chaser Mia Stålnacke captured delightful photos of the Northern Lights dancing with fireworks over Kiruna, Sweden.
“How the New Year starts in Kiruna. There are natural and artificial fireworks in the sky. I know which one I prefer,” Stålnacke wrote in an article on X.
How the New Year starts in Kiruna. There are both natural fireworks and man-made fireworks in the sky. I know which ones I like better. pic.twitter.com/eXbS1wVqqFJanuary 1, 2025
Tour guide Halldor Sigurdsson Captured this impressive video The skies over Reykjavik, Iceland, are filled with Northern Lights and fireworks.
#AuroraBorealis and #fireworks at 23:57 in #Reykjavik in #Iceland. The temperature is -9 C (15F). Happy New Year. @angie_weather @spann @bbcniweather @StephanieAbrams @Ginger_Zee #newyear @aurorawatchuk @wxbrad @barrabest #happynewyear @TamithaSkov pic.twitter.com/EhDIVm8D15January 1, 2025
An eagle-eyed aurora chaser has spotted the Northern Lights as far south as the Mojave Desert in the United States
“Shockingly, this G1 substorm is currently being detected at 35 degrees latitude in the Mojave Desert at 9:20 PM PST,” Blue Sky Aloha wrote in a post. Post on X.
Shockingly, this G1 substorm has been detected at 35 degrees latitude in the Mojave Desert now at 9:20pm PST @TamithaSkov @Vincent_Ledvina @SNHWx @SirlinJohn @edwanx @halocme pic.twitter.com/ejYS7h4MBfJanuary 1, 2025
Bad weather is possible A lot of it was canceled There were New Year’s Eve fireworks displays across Scotland, including Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations, but some lucky sky watchers also saw a more impressive show.
“What a great way to welcome the New Year in beautiful Scotland! Wishing you a happy and healthy 2025” Puja R. Mehta wrote in the post on X.
What a great way to welcome the New Year in beautiful Scotland! Wishing you a happy and healthy 2025 ☺️ #NewYear2025 #NorthernLights #Auroraborealis #Scotland pic.twitter.com/OONuAJgnViJanuary 1, 2025
Amateur photographer Gary McIntyre shared this beautiful view of the vivid red Northern Lights over Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
“Happy New Year everyone! Mother Nature put on her own show for the bells. All the best in 2025!” McIntyre wrote In X’s post.
Happy New Year to everyone! Mother Nature puts on a show of her own for the bells. All the best in 2025! ❤️😘🙂🙏🏻 #love #northernlights #Aberdeenshire #Aurora #2025 #NewYear2025 #NewYear #Scotland #Insch pic.twitter.com/4NUGP2zbrtJanuary 1, 2025
The Northern Lights can also be seen above the Austrian Alps, with a webcam in Sankt Anton am Arlberg capturing the faint red hue.
“The activity at 47°N is pretty nice considering Kp is about 4 (below storm threshold)!” Aurora Chaser Yurey Atanakov wrote In X’s post.
Another auroral view over the Austrian Alps during sub-heavy rain at midnight CET (23:30-00:20 CET) – this time taken from St Anton am Arlberg. Considering the Kp is around 4 (below storm threshold), the activity at 47°N is pretty exciting! pic.twitter.com/JOFjMtHsr7January 1, 2025
Atanakov also shared a webcam view of the Northern Lights from the Zugspitze train station in Bavaria, southern Germany.
“Central Europe performed quite well, although the geomagnetic activity never even reached the G1 storm threshold. It would have been nice if Bz was more favorable,” Atanakov Write on X.
Aurora from the Zugspitze train station in Bavaria, southern Germany, around midnight (23:30-00:20 CET). Although geomagnetic activity never reached the G1 storm threshold, Central Europe performed quite well. It would be nice if Bz could be more advantageous. pic.twitter.com/obNTdVLb2SJanuary 1, 2025
Editor’s note: If you’ve taken stunning Northern Lights (or Southern Lights!) photos or videos and would like to share them with Space.com for possible stories, please send the image, a comment about the view and your location, and use spacephotos permissions@space.com.