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FLNorthern Lights colors, explained simply.
Aurora color depends on two things:
1️⃣ What gas the sun hits.
2️⃣ How high it happens above Earth.
💚 Green is the most common. It happens when solar energy hits oxygen lower in the atmosphere, roughly 60–120 miles high. There is more air at this level, which is why green aurora shows up so often.
💜 Purple usually means movement. It forms when solar energy hits nitrogen and often appears along the edges of green aurora or during fast, active nights.
❤️ Red is rare. Red aurora forms much higher, above 150 miles, where the air is very thin. Seeing red usually means a strong solar storm.
Last night’s display included red aurora because Earth was hit by the strongest solar storm in more than 20 years. Storms of that magnitude push energy deeper and higher into the atmosphere, unlocking colors most people never see.
🩵 Blue aurora is extremely rare. It happens very low in the atmosphere when nitrogen is energized. Our eyes struggle to see blue in low light, so cameras often capture it better than we can.
If you’ve ever wondered why your photos look more colorful than what you saw in real time, that’s normal. At night, human eyes switch into low light mode. We’re better at seeing motion and brightness, not color. Cameras don’t have that limit. Long exposures collect light over time and reveal faint colors our eyes miss, especially during weaker or fast changing aurora.
On strong, active nights, you can see the colors clearly with your own eyes.
If you want to understand when and where to see the Northern Lights, how to plan your trip, and how to photograph them, comment LIGHTS and we’ll DM you the waitlist to our free Northern Lights guide when it launches at the end of this month.
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About @flyandfoto: We’re Kasey and Jason, an elder millennial couple exploring remote escapes, daytime adventures, and incredible night skies. Camping? Absolutely not.
We come with zero ability to pack light and an unhealthy obsession with photographing the sky.
Follow us for unique travel experiences where you can explore by day and sleep under the stars without roughing it.
@flyandfoto
