By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Dennis Mammana

May 24, 2024 (Borrego Springs) – Astronomy writer and night sky photographer Dennis Mammana snapped these stunning photos of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, which made a rare appearance over our region on May 11.  The photo,  left, taken from his backyard in the Anza-Borrego Desert, also shows the Milky Way.

“I aimed my camera with 14mm lens toward the east-southeast. The right (south) side of the frame shows the Milky Way as it appears on a normal night. The left (north) side shows how far southward the aurora extended that night, and how it nearly overwhelmed the Milky Way,”  Mammana told East County Magazine.