Northern Lights: Why the Aurora Borealis was even more spectacular this week

Northern light enthusiasts got a surprise early April 15, 2023, when something odd was mixed in with the green bands of light dancing above the Donnelly Dome near Delta Junction, Alaska. A light baby blue spiral resembling a galaxy appeared amid the aurora for a few minutes.

The Aurora Borealis, known as the Northern Lights, illuminates the sky as seen from a passenger plane flying to Europe as it passes the southern coast of Greenland, April 28, 2023.

A woman watches northern lights (aurora borealis) over the village of Podolye, Russia, 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of St. Petersburg, on Sunday, April 23, 2023.

A photographer takes pictures of the Aurora Australis, also known as the Southern Lights, as it glows on the horizon over waters of Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch on April 24, 2023.

Northern lights, is seen in the night sky in the early morning hours of Monday, April 24, 2023, near Washtucna, Wash.

The northern lights are seen over a farm near Pulaski, Wis., on Sunday, April 23, 2023.

The Aurora Australis, also known as the Southern Lights, glow on the horizon over waters of Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch on April 24, 2023.

In this photo a light baby blue spiral resembling a galaxy appears amid the aurora for a few minutes in the Alaska skies near Fairbanks, Saturday, April 15, 2023. The spiral was formed when excess fuel that had been released from a SpaceX rocket that launched from California about three hours earlier turned to ice, and then the water vapor reflected the sunlight in the upper atmosphere.