May 10, 2024: Clouds interfere with a massive aurora
On May 10th, a major flare's Coronal Mass Ejection was scheduled to strike the earth. The energy involved almost guaranteed an Aurora. Unfortunately, weather was going to be a problem. I felt the weather was going to be clearer towards the north. Unfortunately, I could only see clouds. Some of the clouds were thin and I coudl see brilliant reds visible behind them. I drove back to Manchester to find the sky was clear. I set up my equipment rapidly and, for aobut fifteen minutes, the aurora was very active. There were bright reds and white rays moving across the sky. However, it died down quickly and pretty much left a residual red glow in the sky for several hours. While some actiivty was visible, it never really surged to the brilliance it had during those first 15 minutes. These two images show the best part of the aurora.
This image was taken with a Canon R100 and 14mm F2.8 lens. Exposure time was 30 seconds. The mixing of the various colors gave off a purplish tint to the rays.
This image was taken with a Sony A7III camera and 12mm F2.8 lens. Exposure time was 15 seconds. The purple rays extended towards the zenith but no corona was visible.