Northern lights get 2025 off to a magical start

The sky over the US state of Alaska, here at Lake Eklutna, glowed green and red at the dawning of a new year. Nature created its own firework display to start 2025, with the sun playing a key component.

The sky was also decorated with lights over Anchorage, Alaska's largest city. The eye-catching phenomenon occurs when electrically charged particles from the sun, solar winds, hit the Earth's atmosphere. These particles are directed to the polar regions by the Earth's magnetic field and cause gas molecules there to glow.

Sights like these are generally only visible in a ring-shaped area around the Earth's magnetic poles, known as the aurora belt. The most popular viewing spots are found in Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Alaska. But auroras can also be seen in Cumbria, northern England, as pictured above. Northern lights can even appear in Germany. However, this is rather rare.

The colors of the aurora depend on which gases in the atmosphere have been excited (i.e. have an increase in energy). Green, the most common color, is created by exciting oxygen molecules at an altitude of about 100 kilometers (62 miles). Red comes from oxygen molecules at a height of about 300 km, while blue and violet are the result of nitrogen molecules.

A blaze of color also welcomed in the new year in Russia's Siberia region. With torch in hand, this lone figure took in the celestial spectacle near the city of Krasnoyarsk. Other planets with an atmosphere and magnetic field, such as Jupiter and Saturn, also display auroras. However, they are much more intense than on Earth.

The appearance of the northern lights has given rise to many fascinating myths in Nordic culture. While the Vikings regarded and celebrated the phenomenon as an expression of their gods, other peoples in northern Europe were afraid of them. They invented exciting stories about the threats posed by the light and developed superstitions to protect themselves.