STOCKHOLM — A storm from the broiling sun turned the chilly northernmost skies of Earth into an ever-changing and awe-provoking art show of northern lights on Tuesday.

Even experienced stargazers were stunned by the intensity of the aurora borealis that swept across the night sky in northern Scandinavia after the biggest solar flare in six years.

“It has been absolutely incredible,” British astronomer John Mason cried from the deck of the MS Midnatsol, a cruise ship off the coast of northern Norway.

“I saw my first aurora 40 years ago, and this is one of the best,” Mason told The Associated Press.

U.S. experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday evening that so far they had heard of no problems from the storm that triggered the auroras.

Problems can include current power line surges and interference with broadcast signals.

The sun is likely to get even more active in the next few months, said physicist Doug Biesecker at the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo.

 

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