Tag: aurora

The Great Aurora Storm of May10-13, 2024

The beginning of a strong substorm of actiivity. Some of the best and brightest colors occurred at this time.
The beginning of a strong substorm of actiivity. Some of the best and brightest colors occurred at this time.

It has been called the Great Aurora Storm of 2024 and it occurred on May 10–13 with the peak occurring on May 10–11. It was seen across high, middle, and even low latitudes and it was the strongest geomagnetic storm in decades. From the NASA science site:

May 2024 has already proven to be a particularly stormy month for our Sun. During the first full week of May, a barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest solar storm to reach Earth in two decades — and possibly one of the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years.

At its most intense the event was classified as a G5-class geomagnetic storm (Kp = 9).

Time-lapse video of the aurora substorm. Images at 30-second intervals.

Was not trying for a panorama--but these three shots about 1-2 minutes apart still sort of work.
Was not trying for a panorama–but these three shots about 1-2 minutes apart still sort of work.
The aurora begin to move higher in the sky towards the zenith.
The aurora begin to move higher in the sky towards the zenith.
Higher still and almost reaching the zenith.
Higher still and almost reaching the zenith.
Aurora at the zenith.
Aurora at the zenith.

We were in Colorado at the time visiting family and I only carried a Sony RX10, a camera with a 24–200mm zoom at constant f/2.8 aperture. It’s a good camera but doing long exposures at high ISO at night is not its strong point. Well, you’ve probably heard the saying: “the best camera is the one you have with you.”

Looking to the south as the aurora reached and passed the zenith. The rapid motion in the aurora was fantastic.
Looking to the south as the aurora reached and passed the zenith. The rapid motion in the aurora was fantastic.
Looking north as the substorm began to subside and the aurora retreated to the north.
Looking north as the substorm began to subside and the aurora retreated to the north.

So I used what I had with me. The results were mixed. Some of the images are noisy at high ISO settings. Some of the long-exposure images show tripod shake resulting in streaky stars. And so on.

There have been some amazing photographs published on social media sites–including a shot that I have been trying to get for the past few years of increasing auroral activity.

Ah, well. We still haven’t hit the solar max which is expected between late 2024 and early 2026 so there will be other opportunities.

So here are some photographs taken from our location in northeast Colorado.

Aurora Borealis Visible from Northern Arizona

Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.
Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.

The aurora borealis that occurred Sunday night (23 April 2023) was an impressive event. The storm parameters* were all indicative of a major event so it was worth the effort to drive to a nearby dark (or at least reasonably dark) location and try to get some aurora photos.

Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.
Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.

I assumed that the aurora, if visible from northern Arizona, would be low on the northern horizon so I wanted a location without city lights to my north. The best location would have been the South Rim of Grand Canyon looking over the North Rim but clouds were plentiful in that region. So I headed south from Flagstaff and ended up on Anderson Mesa which has many good viewing locations.

Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.
Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.

Upon arrival I looked to the north but saw nothing with the unaided eye. A quick photo test, however, revealed that the aurora was in progress and visible through the clouds that were to the north. I took photos from about 2045 until 2330. The aurora was at its best from 2100 to 2145. It was much weaker and very faint after that time although still visible. At its peak, the auroral colors extended upwards 30–40 degrees in the sky!

Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.
Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.

I tried to see the aurora with the unaided eye but was never able to see it. I think that was because there was some light pollution from Flagstaff (yeah, it’s a Dark Sky city but it puts out more stray light with each passing year) and lights reflecting off the low clouds that were present to the north.

Time-lapse of aurora from 2053–2228 MST 23 April 2023.

But the camera had no difficulty capturing the subtle colors. I was shooting with a Nikon D750 and a Tamron 17–35mm wide angle lens set at 17mm, aperture was f/2.8, exposure was 15 seconds, and ISO 3200. I was using an intervalometer set to take a photo every minute. The camera was also set to do LENR (long exposure noise reduction) so that the actual time the camera was active was 30 seconds out of each minute. This gave me a chance to quickly review images after each shot was taken and that was useful. On the other hand, taking exposures without LENR and shooting, for example, every 15 seconds would have resulted in a much smoother time lapse. Good stuff to know for the next time we get an aurora event this far south!

*I was using SpaceweatherLive.com to monitor storm parameters.