I’ve been doing a little astronomical photography. My success hasn’t been great—which is why I haven’t posted about it. But the Aurora on 10/10/2024 was such a gift I have to share.
Let me be absolutely clear. I am not a great photographer. I used my Pixel 6 phone with a longish exposure and a prayer to the gods my hands were steady enough. The aurora was sufficiently remarkable it overcame my inadequacies.
A quick rundown on an aurora. Solar storms produce charged particles of various sorts that roar towards earth far faster than a million miles an hour. They have a lot of energy. The Earth’s magnetic field grabs those energetic particles and draws them towards the pole and down into the atmosphere. When they hit molecules in the atmosphere, they make them glow. Oxygen gives a green or yellow color, normally. And auroras are most commonly green. However, if the storm is particularly energetic, oxygen can give out a red color. Nitrogen causes blue or purple. Neon is orange. (See here.)
The aurora started around 6:45 PM. It ran for about thirty minutes, drifted to the east and disappeared. It was no longer seen that night.
With that, here are the pictures. (Note: I'm not sure if the pictures will come through on the mailing list. If not, I urge you to look at the blog entry on a computer.)
As an added benefit, we went looking for the comet the other night. My Pixel failed miserably but Wendy got a couple of good pictures.
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