On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, earth was hit with energy from three separate solar flares resulting in extremely vibrant Northern Lights. The colors seen in the Northern Lights is caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with gases in earth’s atmosphere. This energy is released as light.

Mike Griesinger, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service (NWS) the reason the lights were so vibrant is because the energy from two solar flares hit at the same time.

“Monday’s solar flare was traveling faster than Sunday’s solar flare and it caught up with the first,” he said. “They hit us at the same time resulting in double-whammy.”

Griesinger said multiple solar flares hitting at the same time is extremely rare. Have two back-to-back solar flares is unusual but there have been three this week. Part of the reason for the solar flares hitting one after the other is because the sun is at its peak for an 11-year sunspot cycle.

Hermann Monument backlit by an unusually vibrant Northern Lights. Photo by Wendi Ringhofer.

“When there are more sunspots we get more coronal mass ejections,” Griesinger said. “We’re still in an active time for sunspots.”

This is the reason the Northern Lights have been more visible in southern Minnesota the last few years. The previous peak sunspot cycle hit in 2013/2014, however Griesinger said the previous cycle did not result in this many auroras.

Tuesday’s light display would not likely be repeated the rest of the week. Griesinger said according to satellites, Tuesday’s solar flare began interacting with earth’s atmosphere around 1 p.m. Wednesday during the daylight hours, blocking most of the effect.

“There is chance for another round, but the strength and magnitude will be about half of what it was on Tuesday,” Griesinger said. “It will probably be a more traditional Northern Lights with less vibrant reds.”

Though the Northern Light are expected to dim, many area photographers took advantage of the light show on Tuesday.

Even in residential neighborhoods with heavy ambient light, the vibrant colors of the Northern Lights were still visible Tuesday. This photo was taken from North Jefferson Street. Photo by Meredith Schladweiler.

Professional photographer Shamara Hornick with My Eye Photography captures several images of the aurora Tuesday. Some of her best photos were taken outside of New Ulm away from the ambient light of the city.

Hornick said the secret to photographing the Northern Lights was to use a longer exposure for the camera and to use a tripod.

“A longer exposure allows the light to come into the camera to give you the full potential,” Hornick said. “You can see it with the naked eye, but you see more light with a longer exposure.”

The tripod helps keep the camera stationary when taken a long exposure photo. She said with long exposure photographs, the camera needs to remain still for 15 seconds or more.