March 24th Aurora

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MapleRidge
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March 24th Aurora

Post by MapleRidge »

Hi all...

Well, I was very surprised to see any aurora tonight...I was boiling sap at the bush until 10:30pm local time and went outside of the sugar shack for a moment and the whole northern sky was glowing through the trees. My initial thought was approaching cloud but after a few minutes a friend texted me to ask if I had seen them. At this point is was a wide diffuse band without a lot of structure.

I was going home at this point anyway and when I to the observatory to retrieve my camera the display had changed to a very active, structured display that extended to the zenith...at times running overhead and down into the constellation Leo. The display pulsed in bands running parallel to the horizon the whole time.

Due to the large scale of the display, I put the 8mm, f3.5 lens on my 60D (Ha modded) and started to take a series of 5 sec exposures. I picked one out of the lot to show here...taken at 2:56UT Mar 24th (10:56 EDT Mar 23rd):
March 23 Aurora.jpg
March 23 Aurora.jpg (971.71 KiB) Viewed 1043 times
I checked SpaceWeather when I came into the office to post this and this was the Auroral Oval posted on the site:
usa_thumb.jpg
usa_thumb.jpg (23.1 KiB) Viewed 1043 times
Hands down the best display I've seen in a decade or more. I have witnessed these equinox auroras in the past while making syrup...its a good time of year ;)

I hope you had a chance to view these if you had clear skies.

Brian


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Re: March 24th Aurora

Post by Ibbo »

Excellent.
I think I just about caught a smidgen of slightest hint of it here due to the LP and clouds but had the Shetland cliff cam to watch.


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Re: March 24th Aurora

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Brian,
Absolutely beautiful!! I have been following SpaceWeatherLive all evening watching the KP level bounce from five to eight. Even though I am way too far south at 35 degrees north for all but the most intense solar storms I still ventured out and looked northward when it hit KP8. No aurora so thanks for the splendid view. I love the colors and the display shows considerable structure. I thought of you earlier and wondered if you were seeing it.

Thanks. Two thumbs up!! :hamster: :bow

James


G2_Kp6_SWL_3-24-23.JPG
G2_Kp6_SWL_3-24-23.JPG (43.96 KiB) Viewed 1026 times
G4_Kp8_SWL_3-24-23.JPG
G4_Kp8_SWL_3-24-23.JPG (42.09 KiB) Viewed 1026 times


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Re: March 24th Aurora

Post by Averton »

Amazing shot Brian :)


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Re: March 24th Aurora

Post by Petrus »

Wonderful show with vivid colors Brian, I was able to see them faintly in an urban city.


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Re: March 24th Aurora

Post by Carbon60 »

So glad you got to see something of the Aurora, Brian.

This was a G4 solar storm, which is close to the highest level (G5). The planetary 'K' index was 7.67, meaning it was visible at lower latitudes (in the north) provided skies were clear (not here!!).

Here are my magnetometer data covering the event:
20230324_G4_Storm.jpg
20230324_G4_Storm.jpg (119.35 KiB) Viewed 1006 times
Stu.


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Re: March 24th Aurora

Post by Montana »

Wow!!! amazing :hamster:

I got the alert but didn't think it was strong enough as it was only an amber alert, perhaps not :(

Alexandra


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