They were particularly visible Tuesday night from Mount Laguna for several hours until the clouds rolled in.
SAN DIEGO — Northern lights graced the skies over Southern California last night in a rare celestial display that extended far south of their typical range, with local scientist and photographer Chuck Houser capturing striking images from Mount Laguna beginning around 6:45 p.m.
“Seeing it and standing there looking at it and photographing it is exhilarating,” Houser said.
The aurora borealis, typically confined to northern regions, appeared across much of the continental United States, with particularly impressive displays reported in Minnesota and Iowa.
“It’s a rare treat when it gets pushed into the continental U.S. and incredibly rare to make it so far south as Southern California,” said Robert Hurt, a Cal Tech astronomer.
The phenomenon occurs because the sun is currently in a cycle where it sends charged particles into space. While Earth’s magnetic field protects the planet from most of these particles, some slip through near the poles where the magnetic field is weaker and collide with gases in the atmosphere, creating the colorful light display.
“The fact that the atmosphere is lighting up means it’s doing it’s job in protecting us because when the sky starts glowing, that means the particles have hit molecules of oxygen or nitrogen, excited them to glow in the process, stop them from reaching the ground,” Hurt said.
Photography enthusiasts should note that smartphone cameras capture the aurora more vividly than the human eye. “The phone has a better sensitivity to color mainly because the human eye pretty much sees the instantaneous view of things where as the phone can absorb all the light for a longer fraction of a second of time,” said Douglas Leonard, an astronomy professor at San Diego State University.
Viewers hoping to witness the display should seek locations with minimal light pollution and clear skies. “I’m gonna be out there right after dark with my camera pointed north. Mount Laguna is a good spot – any place you’ve got a good horizon view to the North,” Houser said.