Watch: Lucky passenger captures stunning time-lapse video of northern lights from plane window
Vivid northern lights displays usually follow solar events known as coronal mass ejections or solar flares. The flares bring a barrage of electrons that interact with oxygen and nitrogen in Earth's magnetic field that surrounds the outside of Earth.
Watch: Passenger captures stunning time-lapse video of northern lights on flight from Alaska
A passenger onboard a flight from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Seattle, Washington, was able to capture a stunning time-lapse video of the northern lights.
A passenger on a flight from Alaska to Washington was able to capture a stunning time-lapse video of the northern lights while the airplane zoomed across the night sky.
Alexander Falconer said he was traveling to Seattle from Fairbanks Tuesday night when he noticed the dazzling display and began recording video.
A passenger onboard a flight from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Seattle, Washington, was able to capture a stunning timelapse video of the Northern Lights.
It shows a bright green aurora and magenta edges bleeding into the starry sky.
Falconer said he filmed the time-lapse video by hand over a period of about three hours.
TIMELAPSE OF NORTHERN LIGHTS PROVIDES EYE-GAZING AURORA ABOVE NORWEGIAN VILLAGE
It was the first of two jaw-dropping displays of aurora to grace the Northwest this week.
Early Thursday morning, the skies exploded in brilliant pink and purple huge over the Seattle area as another strong geomagnetic storm struck.
The Northern Lights shine over Puget Sound on March 23, 2033.
(Greg Johnson / SkunkBayWeather.com / FOX Weather)
What are the Northern Lights?
7 Facts about the Northern Lights
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The northern lights are one of the most stunning displays the planet can provide.
Vivid northern lights displays usually follow solar events known as coronal mass ejections or solar flares. The flares bring a barrage of electrons that interact with oxygen and nitrogen in Earth's magnetic field that surrounds the outside of Earth.
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And the colors vary by the type of gas present. Oxygen molecules give off a green or yellow glow or sometimes can give off a bit of a red hue, according to NASA.
Meanwhile, nitrogen will give off blue hues when hit by solar energy.
The northern lights are primarily seen in the higher latitudes in Alaska or Canada, but they have also been seen further south in California, Nevada and even Texas during significant solar events.