Last night, I checked Spaceweather.com and as was predicted, a solar storm was brewing. I drove up to the top of the Antelope Ridge Road where I have an expansive view to the north and east. It was perfectly clear and the moon was setting in the west, excellent conditions. It just so happened that it was also the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, and I did see some bright meteors too.
It wasn’t even dark yet when I saw the first sign of aurora. I could see these pillars with the unaided eye. Thinking this was a good sign I texted other potential aurora watchers to let them know. For about 3 hours, this is as good as it got. It was a bright aurora, easily visible but not many pillars and not much color. At 12:30 AM MDT, the whole sky suddenly erupted. For an aurora like this, a 35mm lens is not a wide enough view! This is the eastern side of the display. I quickly realized that I was now overexposing, it was so bright. I ended up using 15 second exposures at f4 and ISO 800. This was by far the most colorful display I have ever seen, I could see the red and green with the unaided eye. The camera just did it better. Looking northeast, amazing!Due north after it started to recede a bit. Here’s the western edge, I enhanced the stars of the Big Dipper. I took over 70 images, but most of the time I just watched the awesome display. One really has to be there and see it to fully appreciate it. I kept watching for something else to develop, like STEVE, but it never did show up. According to Spaceweather.com, the brightest part of the storm was a G4 severe magnetic storm.
4 replies on “Spectacular Aurora Borealis”
Wow, that was an awesome display. Great pictures! I wish we could have seen it. We could see stars and the moon at our house but as we drove out into the country we could see them being swallowed up by clouds. By the time we got out to the spillway we had solid cloud cover. So disappointing.
Very nice!! I wish we could have seen it!
Quite amazing photos Doug. We were out on the Washington coast at the time and did not notice anything out of the ordinary in the night sky there. You were definitely in the right place at the right time (as you so often are)!
Amazing pictures! The Big Dipper in the aurora is incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it! Man, I sure hope to have the opportunity to see it someday soon. Great shots!
4 replies on “Spectacular Aurora Borealis”
Wow, that was an awesome display. Great pictures! I wish we could have seen it. We could see stars and the moon at our house but as we drove out into the country we could see them being swallowed up by clouds. By the time we got out to the spillway we had solid cloud cover. So disappointing.
Very nice!! I wish we could have seen it!
Quite amazing photos Doug. We were out on the Washington coast at the time and did not notice anything out of the ordinary in the night sky there. You were definitely in the right place at the right time (as you so often are)!
Amazing pictures! The Big Dipper in the aurora is incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it! Man, I sure hope to have the opportunity to see it someday soon. Great shots!