What the New Jersey Northern Lights actually looked like compared to the viral photo

A video earlier this month highlighting the stark discrepancy between expected visibility and actual visibility of the Northern Lights in New Jersey sparked a storm of sympathy from users on TikTok.

The video was posted by a user named @nurse.dezzy and has received over 280,000 views since it was posted on October 11th.

A note superimposed on the clip reads: “The photo everyone posts compared to what the Northern Lights actually looked like in New Jersey.” [New Jersey] tonight.”

The clip shows a person in a car holding up a glowing photo of the Northern Lights, contrasting it against the dark, uneventful New Jersey sky outside the car window.

Residents of New Jersey and New York were treated to a rare sighting of the Northern Lights earlier this month after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, of a geomagnetic storm watch for October 10th to 11th.

“A CME [coronal mass ejection] will most likely reach Earth and result in greatly increased geomagnetic activity,” the SWPC said at the time.

A CME is a solar event in which “a billion tons of plasma are ejected from the Sun, traveling at a million miles per hour,” explains NOAA.

“When a CME reaches Earth, it can produce some of the largest geomagnetic storms and therefore some of the brightest and most active aurorae, extending furthest toward the equator,” NOAA notes.

The viral post comes in a year when northern lights hunters may be able to catch a glimpse of the natural light display from areas of the world where they are not normally seen.

Scientists have said 2024 will see the strongest auroral activity in the last 20 years and also in the next decade due to high solar activity expected to peak between January and October this year, NOAA said.

The TikTok post struck a chord with several viewers, including many who experienced similar disappointments.

User @leah189546 commented: “Thanks for posting this because I felt like I was losing my mind.” Another user, @laynarachel, added: “People close to me post and I'm like where is this ?!”

Alex W. Young said: “Yes. I saw all these great photos at like 10 p.m., so when I finally drove home from my show at like 2 a.m. I barely had anything on the camera.”

Nicole said, “I'm in New Jersey too and my pictures look the same,” and Nikki wrote, “I have a video that shows the same thing.”

D.Dentz Motivation said: “I went out… I didn't see anything.”

Newsweek reached out to the original poster via TikTok for comment. This video has not been independently verified.

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