A New York traveler has shared how he experienced the “unreal” sight of the northern lights from his plane window during an early-morning flight—and no one else on board seemed to notice.
Todd Emanuelli, 49, from Rome, New York, was flying from Syracuse to Detroit for a connection to Los Angeles when he spotted a bright wash of purple and pink light glowing over the clouds below.
The flight departed at 5:50 a.m., and most passengers had their window shades pulled down, leaving Emanuelli as one of the only ones to catch the spectacle.
“I don’t think anyone else on the flight even saw it. Most people had their shades down because of the early flight,” he told Newsweek. He said he noticed the lights as the plane passed over Buffalo, New York. “I could see they were over the Toronto area in Canada, and they lasted for about 30 minutes until I got close to Detroit.”
The aurora, which is typically visible far closer to the Arctic Circle, has been appearing farther south during recent geomagnetic activity. Seeing it from the ground is already rare in much of the U.S.
Emanuelli’s airplane view comes as a rare and powerful solar storm is currently striking Earth after a huge burst of energy and charged particles from the Sun hit our planet’s magnetic field.
Scientists say this is one of the strongest events in over 20 years, caused by a coronal mass ejection (a huge cloud of solar material) interacting with Earth’s magnetosphere, which can disrupt satellites, communications and GPS systems even though people on the ground are safe.
As a result, vivid auroras—the northern lights—are lighting up skies far farther south than usual, with colorful green, red and purple glows visible across parts of North America, the U.K., and Europe for several nights.
“I was so excited and nobody else said anything, so I assumed they didn’t see it,” he said. “I felt very special. I’ve always wanted to see them, but to see them in a plane was unreal.”
Emanuelli snapped some pictures of the aurora, posting the vivid purple display on Threads where the images have gained viral attention with thousands of likes.
In the caption he shared: “Flying into Detroit to catch a connection to LAX, and we could see the northern lights between Toronto and Detroit! Pretty cool!”
Users on the platform were just as amazed, calling the view “epic” and “very lucky.”
One commenter, acid_one, wrote that seeing the lights from a plane was “one of the most epic experiences I’ve had in life,” while another user, karie1275, added: “Now that is cool!! I have never seen them from a plane before. Thanks for sharing this.”
Others simply congratulated Emanuelli for being in the right place at the right time. “What a wonderful view! You are very very lucky!” wrote myleh.barbosa, while shawn4ever77 added: “That’s beautiful I’m so glad you caught that.”
