Airline pilot treated to stunning northern lights show during U.S.-Portugal flight

Pilot captures stunning northern lights An airline pilot got quite a show on May 11 while flying over the U.S. when a solar storm the night before caused stunning auroras.

An airline pilot got quite a show on May 11 while flying from San Francisco to Lisbon when a solar storm caused stunning auroras.

A newly released timelapse video of sequences taken over four hours shows northern lights illuminating the skies while the Transportes Aeros Portugeses (TAP) Air Portugal plane was travelling east.

A post from the Best Airplane Seat YouTube account says the video shows the International Space Station, the Milky Way, and, towards the end of the video, the Andromeda Galaxy.

A May 10 solar storm created extreme geomatic conditions, according to the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center.

As a result, the northern lights or aurora borealis were visible across much of the U.S. and Canada, including in areas where such sightings are uncommon.

The last event with such powerful condition dates back to October 2003.