Stunning photos of aurora borealis captured in northern Ont.

Overnight Sunday into Monday morning the northern lights, aurora borealis, gave skywatchers in northern Ontario quite a show. 

Dozens of viewers shared their photos of the beautiful coloured lights in the night sky, here is a look at some of them.

Allison Currie captured the northern lights from East Bat Road on Lake Wahnapitae (Supplied)

Allison Currie is a local professional photographer. She told CTV News in an interview over social media there are a few factors in being able to see the aurora borealis. 

Currie said she uses an online chart to determine how clear and dark the sky is, adding it is easier to see in areas with less light pollution.

Another important factor she said is the solar wind.

“A normal solar wind is usually around 300 miles per hour range but coronal holes produce solar wind of high speed, ranging from 500 to 800 kilometers per second. This is another important fact when reading solar charts – the solar wind needs to be high,” Currie said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Centre offers aurora forecasts.

“Aurora Borealis is a result of a coronal mass ejection from the sun – basically a huge solar storm on the sun that fires off particles towards earth, it takes up to 72 hours for these particles to reach earth’s atmosphere,” she said.

“When we see aurora, we see the result of those particles hitting the 13 different layers of the eart’s atmosphere. Those are the beautiful colors created – hydrogen may cause one color where Nitrogen may cause another. There are a few important factors when determining a solar storm. One is the KP index, which are measures in relation to where we are situated on the globe. The further north, the lower the KP index. We need a KP index of between 3-5 to see aurora.”

Stephanie Pepin’s photo of the northern lights from Sturgeon Falls Feb. 26/23 at 10:20 a.m. (Supplied)

Paul Kelly’s photo of the northern lights just outside of Kirkland Lake Feb. 26/23 (Supplied)

Kayla Simmens on the Matachewan highway at 6 a.m. (Supplied)

Kayla Simmens on the Matachewan highway at 6 a.m. (Supplied)

Shyanne Denomme captures northern lights in photo from Marter Township around 6 a.m. after a night shift. (Supplied)

Karina Miki Douglas Takayesu at Frederick House Lake east of Timmins at 2:06 a.m. (Supplied)

Part of G2 geomanetic storm level aurora borealis and setting moon (Karina Miki Douglas Takaesu at Frederick House Lake)

Jessica Demers captured the northern lights from Moonbeam about 5:30 a.m. (Supplied)

Jessica Demers from Moonbeam about 5:30 a.m. (Supplied)

Jessica Demers from Moonbeam about 5:30 a.m. (supplied)

Jessica Sutherland captured the northern lights in Cochrane (Supplied)

Matthew Vanbeek captured the northern lights in Matheson (Supplied)

Spencer Hagar took this photo of northern lights from Englehart around 5 a.m. (Supplied)

Kylee Vachon’s photo of the northern lights in Chapleau at 1 a.m. (Supplied)

Northern lights in Elliot Lake taken by Melissa Padbury. (Supplied)

Northern lights seen from Dean Lake in Ironbridge (Rose Mash Bailey Feb. 26/23)

Emma Gioia on I75 in Michigan close to Sault Ste. Marie (Supplied)

Mark Gioia got a glimpse of the northern lights on I75 in Michigan close to Sault Ste. Marie (Supplied)

“Haven’t seen them this active in years. We’re climbing towards the high point of the 11-year solar cycle,” Karina Miki Douglas Takayesu of Timmins told CTV News in an interview over social media.

“Cycle 25, since they’ve been recorded, began around December of 2019 – we had been in a minimum level of activity for the previous three years or so.”

While there may be northern lights activity, it may be harder to see Monday night in Sudbury, Currie said.

“We currently have a huge solar storm going on, I am sad that there are clouds tonight,” she said.

Douglas Takayesu is optimistic.

“We were under a G2-class geomagnetic storm last night with the Kp index going up as high as 7. The forecast on Spaceweather.com is calling for a G3-class storm tonight (Monday), which means the views may be even more spectacular if the sky is clear, although there could also be some interference with electrical communications,” she said.