Thursday night Northern Lights

A severe solar storm (G4 class) hit the Earth last night (Thursday 10 Oct).  Auroras were seen as far south as Mexico and Key West.  Viewing here in Creede was hampered by the first quarter moon (moonset was about 11:50 pm MDT) and some high thin clouds.  Visually the aurora was a faint pink glow in the north (from my location in Bristol Head Acres).  In the camera, however, it was a real spectacle.  

I used two cameras: a Sony A7iii + Sony Fe 20mm f/1.8 G lens, and an Olympus E-M1iii + Laowa 7.5mm f/2 lens.  Most images also employed a Hoya Sparkle-6 filter.

First the Sony images:

10:56 pm MDT

11:20 pm MDT

11:28 pm MDT

12:11 am MDT (11 Oct)

SAR arc over Snowshoe Mountain.  12:16 am MDT (11 Oct)

Now the Olympus photos:

First look.  10:40 pm MDT.

10:50 pm MDT

10:53 pm MDT

11:33 pm MDT

11:36 pm MDT

SAR arc over Snowshoe Mountain. 12:20 am (11 Oct).

A Stable Auroral Red (SAR) arc is the glow from neutral atomic oxygen atoms in the plasmapause (a region of the ionosphere hundreds of miles high) that interact with the global ring current (radiation belt).  This glow has a wavelength of 630 nm and is generally hard to see wtih the unaided eye (I couldn't see it, even though it is brilliant red in the camera).

As usual, click on an image to get into gallery view, from which you can access the full-size version.