There have been reports of people seeing the northern lights (also known as aurora borealis) throughout Northern Utah, including in northeastern Utah! Many pictures have been shared online, including stunning images taken from Flaming Gorge. NASA ambassador Patrick Wiggins explains that such sightings in the area are not rare but they are unusual and are due to a sun flare, or “burp” from the sun. The last time there was a really good flare visible to Utah was around 2000. Such flares can be too powerful as an event in 1859 caused skies all over the world to be illuminated with bright enough colors before the sun rose that people could read newspapers by it. It also shut down the telegraph system worldwide. There was enough aurora- induced electric currents in the telegraph wires that even though they were disconnected to their conventional power the wires would allow messages to be transmitted. Today a flare of that magnitude would wipe out a lot of the satellites.
Photo taken at Red Canyon Overlook by Aaron Selig, Recreation Management Specialist Flaming Gorge Ranger District
