On Saturday, May 11, 2024, a huge X5.8 solar flare produced the strongest geomagnetic storm (level G5) since Halloween, 2003. Southwest Nebraska doesn’t often see Northern Lights, but we did on the evening of May 11. We parked near 41.236450, -100.798740 on Highway 97 to observe. My images were less than great, and out of focus, but these were the best of my captures. I chalk the quality up to being rusty, basically my first time trying to capture this phenomena, and not taking a great deal of time to research best setups. However, they were special as my first time seeing the Northern Lights in person. The camara sees more than the naked eye, but it was eerie to see lights, spikes, and hues in the night darkness. Exposures were 8 seconds, ISO 1600-12800, f/4 taken with Rokinon AE14M-C 14mm f/2.8-22 Ultra Wide Angle Lens on a Canon EOS 6Ti / 750D camera atop a stationary tripod using an intervalometer. The moon was a waxing crescent at 14% illumination and 3.5 days old.
This was the night before from my backyard (Bortle 5) taken in night mode on a Google Pixel 7 Pro phone. Friday, May 10, 2024, initial G4 geomagnetic storm was triggered on May 10, 2024. Forecasters predict there could a cannibal coronal mass ejection soon. We are nearing the peak of cyclical increased solar flare activity. This shot usually has a static sodium light orange tinge to it thanks to the UP’s largest classification yard to my north. But you can see purples and greens and the video shows it like a moving cloud almost.
