Aurora Borealis photos from Mt. Washington

Some stunning images of the Aurora Borealis emerged from atop Mount Washington Tuesday evening. The crew at the Mount Washington Obervatory staff called the colorful display one of the best they had ever seen at the summit.

According to an observatory Facebook post, the photos were shot with a Canon G12 with ISO 800, 15 second exposure, f2.8, and auto-white balance.

According to Boston.com’s David Epstein, “What you are seeing is the charged atmosphere as a result of tremendous energy being ejected from the sun. These flares tend to increase as the activity of the sun increases on an 11 year cycle.”

“When a solar flare errupts on the sun it’s like millions of hydrogen bombs exploding over a short period of time. (10 minutes or so),” Epstein continues. “The energy from the flare rushes towards our atmosphere and charges it up.”

“When we see the northern or southern lights we are seeing the sparks in the atmosphere from the charging. You can see shades of blue, white and even purple. Scientists have recently confirmed the lights also have a sound to them as well.” – Epstein

The observatory is is a private, non-profit organization which aims to learn more about the systems that create the Earth’s weather and climate.

A fantastic shade of green hovered over the New Hampshire landscape.

At times, it seemed as though the Northern Lights made Mount Washington look like another planet.

The Aurora Borealis continued to work its magic into the wee hours of the morning in New Hampshire.

Visitors to North Conway can explore the regions weather at the free Weather Discovery Center,.