Northern lights put on dazzling display across the Maritimes

The Northern lights puts on a spectacular display over the Maritimes.

Whether they were out in the woods or in the middle of a suburban neighbourhood, people in all three Maritime provinces looked up into the night sky Monday night and saw a bright show.

“From home, I saw some pink glow in the sky and that indicated that we were on to something fairly early in the evening,” said Kris Tynski, a nature photographer in Cape Breton.

Tynski and fellow professional photographer James Forsey decided to go somewhere dark to try and capture the aurora borealis at its best.

“It’s a big check mark on the list to get Northern Lights,” Tynski said. “They react differently every time, there’s different colours. Sometimes you see movement, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you see it good with the naked eye, sometimes it’s on the camera you see it.”

On social media, the photos came in fast and furious from many different corners of the region.

While it helps to have some idea what you’re doing, Tynski said you don’t need to own an expensive camera to enjoy nature’s beauty.

“Nowadays with cell phone technology you can kind of point your phone, do a three to ten-second exposure on your phone, and that light should show up on your phone and it gives you a great idea of where to look,” he said.

CTV Atlantic meteorologist Kalin Mitchell weighed in on why we have been seeing the northern lights more often in the Maritimes in recent years.

“This was the strongest geomagnetic storm since Halloween 2003,” Mitchell said. “We are currently in a period where the sun is more active, and we’re seeing more of these coronal mass ejections - which increases our chances.”

To increase your chances of seeing the lights, Mitchell suggests getting away from city lights.

“Get some place dark. Get to some place where you have as open a view of the northern horizon as possible because, here in the Maritimes, often they appear a little bit down closer to the horizon. You’ve got to have patience. You’ve got to be a little lucky as well,” he said.

With any luck, the night sky might light up like this again before too long.