Photos show the northern lights’ dazzling display across New England

A view of the shimmering northern lights off Lake Champlain in Colchester, Vt., Sunday night.Adam Silverman Photography

A strong geomagnetic storm emblazoned the night sky Sunday with the northern lights, creating a dazzling display that extended across the northern tier of the country, including New England, making many night owls happy for staying up late to catch a glimpse.

Massachusetts resident Paul Ruszala was with a group of people on Cape Cod, waiting for the lights.

“I was with a great crowd last night, with many seeing it for their first time. When the pillars appeared, they were all cheering,” said Paul Ruszala, who shot the shimmering lights from Barnstable Harbor.

The northern lights as seen from Barnstable Harbor on Cape Cod Sunday night.Paul Ruszala

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a geomagnetic storm alert on Sunday after a “high-speed stream” of solar winds hit Earth. Conditions intensified to a G3, or strong, geomagnetic storm.

The storm “resulted from a large, trans-equatorial coronal hole...a less dense and cooler area of open magnetic field lines that allows the solar wind to escape into space at higher speeds than normal, called a high-speed stream,” said Shawn Dahl, meteorologist and service coordinator at the Space Weather Prediction Center. “Sometimes the speeds are quite fast and they catch up with the normal, slower (ambient) solar wind speeds that can create a compression region known as a co-rotating interaction region.”

There was an especially big spike around 10 p.m. ET, according to several New England aurora-watchers. The intensity of the storm projected the northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, as far south as Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Here are some of the images New Englanders captured Sunday night:

A view of the northern lights as seen from Dennis.Tracie Wilson

The view of the northern lights over Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire Sunday night.CM AGURKIS PHOTOGRAPHY

Eilish Nebbia was on a flight arriving into Boston when she happened to look out her airplane window and caught the shimmering green glow of the aurora. “It was such a sight!!” Nebbia said Monday.

A view of the northern lights as Eilish Nebbia's plane was descending into Boston's Logan Airport Sunday night at 10:13 p.m. "Fighting the urge to tell everyone on this BOS flight to look out the window," she posted Sunday night on social media.Eilish Nebbia

A view from Gilford, N.H., over Lake Winnipesaukee, on Sunday night around 10:15.Jennifer Lee

A view of the northern lights from Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire Sunday night, Sept. 14, 2025.CM AGURKIS PHOTOGRAPHY

Pinks and purples were captured from the northern lights in Goshen in Western Mass., around 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., Monday.Patrice Marie

A view of the northern lights as seen from Ryegate, Vt., Sunday night (10:49 p.m. to 11:07 p.m.).KMH

The northern lights in Dennis on Sunday night.Tracie Wilson

The northern lights as seen from Barnstable Harbor Sunday night.Paul Ruszala

The northern lights as seen in Hatfield, Mass., around 10:50 p.m., on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025.Amanda Nash

Another view of the northern lights as seen from Goshen, Mass., Sunday.Patrice Marie

Have a photo of the Northern Lights in New England? We would love to feature it here. Email photos to [e-mail] if you give us permission to share your images on our site and social media platforms.