Northern Lights Captured Lighting Up Hudson Valley Skies

It happened again! The Northern Lights danced across the Hudson Valley and New York State skies earlier this week.

Back in March, photos of the Northern Lights started popping up on social media and at first, they had folks thinking that they were being tricked by Photoshop.

Turns out, at least according to Business Insider, there were "solar winds blowing from a giant coronal hole on the sun" causing the skies to change in the Hudson Valley.

Well, there were reports again this week that parts of the United States would be able to catch a glimpse of the solar flares, including NY, but if we're honest we all had our doubts. However, on Monday, April 24th, 2023 several Hudson Valley photographers were able to capture the skies lighting up in different shades of green and purple.

The Northern Lights Dance Across the Hudson Valley Sky

Personally, the first photo I saw was from a photographer named Patrick Kelly Jr. It popped up on my timeline from the Facebook Group "Hudson Valley in Pictures." You couldn't miss it, as the deep purple and bright green sky shined while Kelly's silhouette stood with his hands in the air as he captured the beautiful image.

Check it out:

Kelly shares that he took the photos around midnight in the Kerhonkson area when the Northern Light flare was at its peak and used a "Sony a7rv, and a Samyang 24mm 1.8 lens, taking 25-second exposures."

Further south near Bear Mountain, Nicholas Isabella took this shot that I think should be used as some kind of promotion for Orange and Rockland Counties. How cool is this?

 Isabella tells us he used "a regular DSLR camera with a wide lens doing a long exposure" and took the photos around 1 am.

For photographer, Alyxsandra Tiano the Northern Lights were a welcomed surprise. She shared her story of capturing the solar flare back on Monday writing:

I actually did not have time to take out my camera. I started out around 11:45pm. I live near ulster landing road. The bridge picture I was crossing into the Kingston side. Then I drove ulster landing road where it meet kukuk to take the other shots closer to 12:05am. I only used my iPhone 12; with only 3 seconds of exposure. I unfortunately did not have my enough time to get my good camera out

Even with an iPhone, she was able to snap this photo:

How to Capture the Northern Lights in Your Own Backyard

Want to capture a flash of the Northern Lights next time they flare across the Hudson Valley? Patrick Kelly shares the following tip:

And for people interested, the best way to learn about the Aurora Borealis, what causes them and how and when to see them is to check out http://spaceweather.com

He adds that they have a paid service that will send you text alerts "regarding solar flares and geomagnetic storms."  And it looks like the Northern Lights will return, Spaceweather writes "Solar Cycle 25 is just getting started, so this will happen again. Make sure you don't miss the next storm!"

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Did you take a photo of the Northern Lights in your Hudson Valley town this week? We'd love to see them and add them to our gallery. Send photos to: Jess@HudsonValleyCountry.com and let us know when you took the photos and where.

In the meantime, take a look at some fantastic shots of the Hudson Valley Northern Lights below: