MOUNT WASHINGTON, N.H. (WHDH) — Clouds cleared in the sky above the highest peak in the Northeast Sunday night, allowing an observer atop Mount Washington a chance to snap a stunning and very rare photo of the Northern Lights.
The lights were so powerful and prominent that they drowned out a nearly-full moon, according to the Mount Washington Observatory.
“It is rare at this latitude to see them like this when the moon is close to full like it was but these were bright enough to overpower the moonlight,” the observatory said in a Facebook post.
Ryan Knapp, who has been working as a night observer on the mountain for more than a decade, said it was only the second time that he was seen the lights present with the moon in the sky.
The Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, is a natural phenomenon that can paint the night sky with surreal color. They typically circle the globe in a circular or elliptical “oval” centered on the earth’s North Magnetic Pole.
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