A few days ago, there were a couple of X class flares on the sun. This means that it might be possible for us to see some aurora in my area. This is normally not possible because our magnetic field would deflect them better. But in recent years it has been weakening. This means that auroras will be visible at lower latitudes than we are used to.
If you want to learn more about all this, you can go here:
There is an app available that shows a lot of information about the levels of various protons, x-rays and electrons currently in the atmosphere. There is also something called the KP index (which I don't understand) that is a good indicator that aurora will happen.
Anyway, last night my app let off a notification that the KP was rising. So, I decided to take a little drive about three miles from my house out to a bridge over the river that has a great view of the sky.
When I got there, I could see a strange reddish glow in the sky, but I wouldn't call it dramatic. However, my phone in night mode with a three second exposure recorded this:
And looking in a more easterly direction, it captured this:
It was such a source of amazement to me that my eyes could not see this unaided. I kept thinking, what ELSE is in the night sky that we totally miss because of the limitations of our eyes?
I'm hoping at some point in the coming months I'll get a chance to see an aurora without using the camera. This is entirely possible, as our shield keeps weakening, AND we are not at sunspot maximum yet.
Next up in the night sky will be a comet and a week or so. I'll see if I can get a look at THAT.
I'm very grateful to live in a place with very little light interference.
One perk of living in the boonies!
