Wow, that was a show.
The data looked ridiculous from the outset. There’s one parameter, when you’re consulting the oracle (sorry, the space-weather data), the Bz, that you want to be a negative number. I’ve seen great shows when the Bz was around ‑3 or ‑5. The longer it’s negative, the better.
Yesterday afternoon, every time I checked, the Bz was around ‑15. Crazy.
And the auroral oval looked like this. When it’s yellow, that’s usually a good sign. Red—that much red—is flat-out amazing.
So as soon as it was remotely dark—about 9 pm or so—I packed my gear and hit the road. I went to my favourite spot, about 15 minutes’ drive from my door, and got set up.
Then I looked around, and… The aurora reached from the west to the east, and it was even faintly visible to the south, over the city. Above the city lights. That’s something I can’t recall ever seeing.
I was there for over an hour, but it didn’t seem like it. Normally to my eye, the aurora is a hazy cloud, or at best a well-defined, mobile cloud. Last night it was bright enough that I could see a yellowish-green colour to it. And it moved like I’ve only rarely seen it, shifting and morphing like it was alive.
Once the show died down a bit I got in the car and started for home. I decided to make a brief detour, though, to the agricultural research station at the edge of town.
When I got home, I noticed I could see the aurora—however faintly—from the back lane. So I set up my tripod one more time, to catch a couple more shots.
What a show. What a ridiculous show.
Interested in prints of my photos? Let me know, and we can work something out.