Reddit user from Larimer County posts photo of Northern Lights

The Northern Lights were visible early Thursday morning in northern Colorado, according to a Reddit posting.

Last week, forecasters expected that a strong solar flare would help fire up the Northern Lights in Colorado on Saturday night, but the right conditions didn’t develop and cloudy skies over the weekend blocked potential viewing for most Coloradans.

Ecoartist, a Reddit user, posted a photo Thursday of the “Northern Lights from near Laporte.”

The photo was taken at about 3 a.m., Ecoartist said on social media.

“They were only faintly visible to the eye in the light pollution, but my camera sensor really saw them! We are still heading to the solar max, so keep looking up!”

Ron Hranac, of the Denver Astronomical Society, said Thursday that a “cannibal coronal mass ejection struck Earth last night, producing visible aurora as far south as parts of California.” The Northern Lights are also known as aurora borealis.

A mapping model by the University of Alaska Fairbank’s Geophysical Institute for overnight Wednesday extended into the northern United States, including Montana and North Dakota.

The Denver Astronomical Society and the Gates Planetarium, part of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, on Thursday had not received spotter reports of sightings in Colorado, officials said.

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