Mystery green lights over Kona baffle residents, astronomers investigate cause

Fifteen to 20 minutes after sunset near Keahole Point, Jake Asuncion was filming the evening sky when a faint green glow appeared over Hawaii Island, looking northwest toward Maui. He said he did not notice the lights until he reviewed the footage at home, and when he returned the next night, he says he saw them again.

The strange display has since spread far beyond Kailua-Kona, drawing national attention as residents, astronomers and space-weather watchers tried to identify what lit up the sky. Asuncion said the lights were too dim to stand out clearly to the naked eye, but they showed up more strongly on his phone camera, a detail that matters because low-light smartphone sensors can make faint colors look brighter than they appear in person.

Local astronomer Nick Bradley of Stargazers of Hawaii said the color resembles aurora, but an aurora is unlikely. He pointed to weekend space-weather data showing no significant geomagnetic storm activity and a KP index between 3 and 4, well below the KP 8 level tied to a rare aurora visible in Hawaii in 2024. Bradley also said the footage does not fit satellites, meteors, lasers or the sunset green flash, because the lights appeared well after the sun had gone down and higher in the sky.

The U.S. Army said there were no lasers being used or any training in the area. The Hawaii Department of Transportation said Kona airport once had a red laser bird-hazing gun, but that tool would not match the scale or color in Asuncion’s video, and standard airport rotating beacons would not fit either.

Keck Observatory scientists suggested another possibility: STEVE, short for strong thermal emissions velocity enhancement. STEVE is an aurora-like phenomenon that can appear farther south than aurora and is still not fully understood. NOAA describes aurora as light produced when charged particles from space interact with the upper atmosphere, while STEVE is linked to a ribbon of hot gases rather than the same process.

For now, the exact cause remains unknown. Astronomers say Big Island residents should keep watching the western sky after sunset, especially if the lights return over Kona, and capture any similar sighting with a phone camera while noting the time, direction and whether the glow is visible to the naked eye.