An especially colorful display of the northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, is reflected in an icy pond on Mount Pilchuck in Washington’s Central Cascades. The northern lights occur when electrically charged particles from the solar storms interact with Earth's magnetic field. The Big Dipper is visible in the right half of the image.

Notes from the field

This northern lights display was the result of a near-record solar storm. A mass of particles thirteen times the size of the earth erupted from the sun and began racing our way at 5 million miles per hour. At that speed, it took just 19 hours to travel from the sun to Earth. The particle storm was rated G5 — the most severe category. There have been just five solar storms of that magnitude over the past 15 years, and most did not reach Earth. A 20-second exposure allowed me to capture all the colors, while still keeping the moving pillars of light relatively sharp.

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