Hues of green and pink danced in between the clouds, taking Whidbey residents’ breath away.

After sunset on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night, the sky above Whidbey, as well as across Washington and parts of the U.S. and Canada, lit up in pink and green. The show was part of the geomagnetic solar storm known as the aurora borealis. The colorful lights became visible when the sun’s ejected charged particles met Earth’s magnetic field.

Out of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s five-part scale, Tuesday night reached a G4 ranking — a rare phenomenon — which signifies a severe category storm. Wednesday night was a bit weaker with a G3 ranking and Thursday night hit a G1 ranking, barely visible at all.

Those who were lucky enough to catch the colors before clouds rolled in captured some truly stunning shots.

Many Whidbey residents posted their photos of the northern lights on Facebook. Among them was Jan Kocian, who said that taking photos is a hobby for him. He captured the colorful spectacle Tuesday night with just his phone and a tripod.

“What is so enticing about auroras is the unpredictability of them actually showing up; they’re sometimes only fleeting,” he told the News-Times. “I did see a little bit of the aurora with the naked eye, but it takes the camera to make sure,” he said.

Like Kocian, Randy Heiserman, who does photography as a hobby but considers himself semi-professional, also captured stunning photos of the northern lights, only his were taken below the famous Deception Pass bridge on Tuesday night. Using a Canon R6 Mark 2 mirrorless camera equipped with a wide-angle lens, he shot with a low aperture to let in the most amount of light and capture the aurora in all its glory.

Though easier to see through the camera, he could still make out the faint colors with his naked eye.

“I was able to watch the colors dance above the clouds in my viewfinder. While details were difficult to make out, the show was unique in itself,” he said.

Heiserman went to the bridge specifically to try to replicate a shot of the aurora he took last October.

“Every time I witness the lights is a different experience, being that is rare for our region,” he said. As a nature lover, the sights leave him in “awe” of the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. His photos are available for purchase at Randyheisermanphotography.com.

To see the aurora borealis better, the NOAA suggests getting away from city lights, watching within two hours of midnight and looking North.

Keep track of future geomagnetic storms through the NOAA Aurora Dashboard.

Randy Heiserman took this photo at Deception Pass. The sky dances with hues of pink and green.

Photo by Randy Heiserman at Deception Pass. The aurora borealis peeps in between the clouds.