MARQUETTE, Mich. (WJMN) – All the elements aligned Thursday night for a display of the aurora borealis or northern lights. The clear dark skies of the Upper Peninsula provided the perfect canvas for the solar winds to paint with.

When visible, the lights typically can only be seen slightly above the horizon line. To the naked eye, they appear as a soft greenish hue. on Thursday, dancing ribbons of light floated overhead and were fully visible. Using longer exposures on phones and cameras helped the colors show up more vibrantly, but for the average person, all you had to do was walk out your front door and look up.

We observed the lights from 10 a.m. to Midnight. The lights were so intense, they were able to be picked up in cell phone video.

While you didn’t need special photographic equipment to take in Thursday’s spectacle, we took some longer exposures with settings of ISO 800, F 3.5, and between 6-15 second exposures.

Joe Dodd took a photo of the lights that looks remarkably like the Upper Peninsula.

Chances to see the lights are possible for the rest of the weekend. Cloud cover could make that challenging at times. Be sure to keep up with the latest forecast here.

Jose Guzman Martinez snapped this phot near Eben Junction.
Joretta Hayhurst got the northern lights and a couple of planets in her picture.
Amy Richards got a dazzling snapshot of the colors and columns.