Aurora season is back! Pilot captures spectacular northern lights from 37,000 ft

ribbons of green light with purple fringes fill the entire sky. — The incredibly show was captured at 37,000 ft. (Image credit: Matt Melnyk)

Aurora season is well underway, folks, and pilot Matt Melnyk arguably has one of the best seats in the house.

Cruising at 37,000 feet (11 kilometers) during a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight from Calgary, Canada, to London, U.K., Melnyk was treated to a spectacular view of the northern lights dancing below a star-studded sky.

"It's nice to finally see them again", Melnyk told Space.com in an email. The show lasted about three hours as Melnyk flew over northern Manitoba and Hudson Bay on Sept. 22.

And this wasn't his first show of the season. Melnyk also photographed the northern lights during a similar flight on Sept. 14 when the display erupted over Manitoba and Hudson Bay once again.

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ribbons of green and purple light fill the sky in photos captured above the clouds from a dreamliner airplane. — Best seat in the house at 37,000 ft on Sept. 22. (Image credit: Matt Melnyk)

The dazzling shows herald the start of what could be a very promising northern lights season. The sun has passed the peak of solar maximum and is in the declining — and often turbulent — phase of its approximately 11-year solar cycle.

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The combination can make the years following solar maximum particularly fruitful for aurora chasers. Solar physicist Pål Brekke previously told Space.com that peak auroral activity tends to occur a few years after solar maximum.

For the techies

Canon eos r6 mark ii on a white background — (Image credit: Canon)

Melnyk captured the northern lights imagery with a Canon EOS R6 Mark II paired with a Canon RF 14mm F1.4 L VCM lens.

And there's another reason September can be a good month for aurora hunters. Around the spring and autumn equinoxes, geomagnetic activity tends to increase thanks in part to the Russell-McPherron effect. Due to the geometry of Earth's magnetic field relative to the sun, conditions become more favorable for the solar wind's magnetic field to connect with Earth's, allowing energy to funnel more efficiently down to the poles.

With darker nights returning, a turbulent sun and a little help from the equinox, aurora season is certainly off to a promising start.

Daisy Dobrijevic joined Space.com in February 2022, having previously worked as a staff writer for All About Space magazine. She completed an editorial internship with BBC Sky at Night Magazine and worked at the National Space Centre, communicating space science to the public.

Daisy holds a PhD in plant physiology and a Master's in Environmental Science. Based in Nottingham, U.K., she covers all things space, with a special focus on solar activity and space weather. She also has a keen interest in astrotourism and is always on the lookout for the next northern lights adventure.

She will be a guest speaker aboard HX's Solar Eclipse Expedition in August 2026 and will join Hurtigruten as an onboard astronomer for a northern lights sailing in January 2027.