10 & 11 May 2024. Aurora!

     I was thinking of setting up the telescope, since this looked like it would be the first clear night in a couple of weeks. I was pretty tired and needed to catch up on the AAVSO class, so I decided not to bother. However as everyone knows by now, the aurora forecast was very strong. It turned out to be t.he strongest solar event in 20 years! Given our experience from here with previous predictions I wasn't overly hopeful. I stepped outside about 22:00 MDT thinking I might be able to see a little of it to our north. My first reaction was that it was a good thing I hadn't bothered with the telescope. The skyglow was pretty bad and it looked like there was a lot of haze or high thin clouds, so only a few stars were visible. I took my small night vision scope out, hoping that might help me see it better than naked eye. Then I realized that the skyglow was the aurora, and it covered almost the entire sky! As I watched, more and more subtle structure became visible. The overall color actually tended toward gray. My night vision scope has a digital camera, so I was able to get a few pictures.

 

Looking North. You can just make out the structure. 22:10 MDT, 10 May

 

Looking East, 22:38 MDT

 

Looking South east one minute later

     As I watched, more and more structure became visible, and even some very faint color. I tried to get some pictures with my cell phone, but it took me a while to find the right settings and they don't show up very well. i could detect green down low, and orange/red up higher.

I was able to get a couple of shots with my cell phone, but they were not very good.  I finally figured out night mode, and got some decent ones.On my phone, you can see a hint of the colors. Those picture don't show up well on here. finally figured out night mode, and got some decent ones. Most of them are too dark to show up well here.

Looking East

 

The extent of the Aurora was awe inspiring. Directly overhead was a point where it all seemed to converge. The Aurora around this point almost looked like a nebula. It almost seemed shaped like a ghostly bird. I took our DSLR out, and Anne found some recommended settings on YouTube. ISO 1600, 15 second exposures.Those settings gave good view of the color, but my initial ones were blurred because they were hand held. against a fence post.

Looking North, at about 01:00 MDT 11 May


This is a shot looking straight up at 01:04 MDT!


Looking North again, at 02:17 11 May.

You can see a definite dimming between the first image looking north and the second one. By about 02:30 MDT it was pretty well dying down. My reaction to this aororal display was prett much just "WOW!!" From  all reports this was the strongest display in at least 20 years. These photographs just can't do justice to what it was like to have the immensity of it overhead.

The night of 11 May was also forecast to be good. I went out an dgot some more photographs, but this display wasn't quite as extensive, and didn' last as long . These pictures were better because I set the camera on a tabletop tripod and used time delay release.

Looking North, 22:49 MDT 11 May


Looking East. The Moon is just going behind the trees.












 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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