Swirls of green and red appear in an aurora over Whitehorse, Yukon on Sept. 3, 2012 in this NASA handout image. The aurora was due to the interaction of a coronal mass ejection from the sun with earth's magnetosphere. The CME left the sun on Aug. 31 and arrived on Sept. 3. Full story…

EDITOR'S NOTE: This image was received by NBC News on Sept. 5.