Northern Lights, Perseid meteors radiate across Pennsylvania skies

(WTAJ) — It was a beautiful clear night across northern Pennsylvania as the summer heat was absent and a space show was upon us.

Sunday night — into Monday morning — not only saw the Northern Lights dazzle residents but it was the peak of the Perseid meteor shower that’s been slowly building up the past couple of weeks.

One viewer was out enjoying a hobby of nighttime photos. Christie Pifer caught some wonderful photos of the Aurora Borealis reaching into Pennsylvania, above the small town lights of Emporium.

The Northern Lights are caused by Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) from the Sun hitting Earth’s magnetic field. We have been experiencing them at a peak level (Solar Maximum) that will start to die down. These Sun cycles last 11 years.

Ronald Shawley took the time to make sure he caught everything he could. The streaks you see below are not a photo mishap, but they’re meteors streaking past our planet from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.

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Swift-Tuttle actually takes 133 years to orbit the sun. Each year, Earth passes through debris the comet left behind, creating an often spectacular meteor shower. The comment reached its perihelion (closest point to the Sun) in 1992 and won’t return until the year 2125.

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