I first saw the Northern lights (or aurora borealis) from Marblehead in March 2015 during what was at the time the strongest solar storm to hit Earth in years.  I felt incredibly fortunate to have witnessed and captured the scene and never imagined I would have an opportunity to repeat it let alone improve upon it.

As it happened, an even stronger solar storm event took place on June 22nd.  As night fell, the projected strength (or Kp) of the storm hit a whopping 8 which meant it would be visible from our relatively southern position in New England.  With that in mind, I drove out to Chandler Hovey Park again but, within a few minutes, changed my mind and headed to the public way at Cove Lane.

I had recently visited this spot and thought it might offer a better vantage point with a bit less light pollution.  I set up and captured shot after shot watching the bright green band (visible as a whitish haze to the naked eye) grow stronger.  Suddenly, tendrils of purple appeared and the full beauty of the Northern Lights was on display.  Within minutes the aurora borealis dissipated and I packed up to head home.

I wrote that this was easily the most incredible, jaw-droppingly beautiful display of the aurora borealis I had witnessed in Marblehead and have to believe it rivals some of the views seen in far northern locations.