During an overnight flight over British Columbia, a plane full of people got to witness a magnificent show in the sky.
Barbara Copp was heading back home to Port Coquitlam from Alaska and looked out the plane window at 3:30 a.m. (PST) on Oct. 7 to see a geomagnetic storm.
“It was just this amazing night sky and I just started taking pictures,” she says.
Green streaks lit up the whole sky and the show lasted for about an hour.
“It was just this overwhelming sense of ‘oh my god, this is so beautiful.’”
A person behind her was also enjoying the lights, but many passengers on the flight were sound asleep for it.
“I think when you’re coming from Alaska, it’s more of a regular thing,” she says.
For her, seeing the northern lights never gets old.
“Every time you see them is like seeing them for the first time, and they’re always different,” she says. "The sense of awe and excitement never goes away.”
Copp was actually in Fairbanks, Alaska for a photography event learning how to take photographs of the aurora borealis.
“From the airplane, I just had my iPhone 12 Pro Max, nothing fancy, but I was still able to get some really great shots,” she says.
The spectacular light show was observed across North America on Monday evening.
Copp has spent time researching some of the legends behind the northern lights and encourages other people to do the same.
“Sometimes when you're in it, you can kind of feel where some of those stories might come from,” she tells Glacier Media.
She was encouraged to take photographs of white clouds because you might be surprised what your camera can capture.
“If you are seeing something, take the pictures, but also just be in the moment and experience nature.”
