James Blilie sent in some photos of the Aurora that his son Jamie took in Washington State. (I wish I could have seen this!) His captions are indented, and you can enlarge his son’s photos by clicking on them.
It’s been a couple of weeks since the big Aurora event; but I thought I’d send a selection of my son Jamie’s photos from that night. I took a few (poor) photos with my iPhone; but mainly I just sat and watched the amazing light show. Mainly we just gaped and kept up a patter of “holy cow!’ and “holy s**t!”.
The Aurora show of 10-May-2024 was certainly worth staying up for!
I thought I’d seen some pretty spectacular Auroras in Alaska, Canada, and far northern Minnesota. Last night’s event put them all in the shade. It was an event different nearly in kind. We are fortunate to live in a dark, rural area with little light pollution.
At its peak, it filled the entire northern sky, east to west, horizon to zenith. I’ve never seen anything like it. At times it was apparent that the lights were directly overhead (we are in far southern Washington state; 45° 45’ north). It was so bright it illuminated the ground, blanked out all but the brightest stars, and put the light of the poor little moon to shame.
The colors were not this intense to the naked eye; the camera picks up more color than the eye. The camera sensor also discerns the “structure” of the lights better than the naked eye. But, make no mistake: this was a spectacular Aurora event.
Equipment:
Nikon D5600 camera
Opteka 6.5mm f/3.5 Ultra Wide Angle Aspherical Manual Focus Fisheye Lens
Sturdy Manfrotto tripod
Adjustments in Lightroom 5 software
“…put the light of the poor, little moon to shame.” That statement struck me almost as much as the brilliant images.
Wow! I consider you both very fortunate to have been able to document the event. This was the first aurora that I’d seen (viewed from my back yard with some light pollution), and I was surprised that it was not as vivid as what one would see in pictures. But of course that makes sense since pictures would be done with a longer exposure.
How lucky you both were to have seen that magnificent aurora! I wish I had been that fortunate. The photos are absolutely wonderful–I wouldn’t mind seeing more of them.
100%!!!
Everybody at weak aurora latitudes should check for auroras with their phone cameras – it looks hazy by naked eye – I could have missed the last one were it not for that camera!
Now I’m always checking – a bit of haze? Ooo, maybe an aurora!
What a thrill to see! Thanks you for great pictures.
Someday over the rainbow I’ll get to see the Aurora lights in person!
Lucky you and thanks for sharing.
Wow!
Amazing! I wish i could have seen it but it was overcast ! 🤬 thanks for sharing what we misses.
Holy s**t is right! Thank you James and Jamie. Your rural home continues to bring us pleasure. Btw, I think I have related some time ago on this site that the same night in 1986 that I first saw Halley’s comet through my little Astroscan RFT, something I had looked forward to since the mid-50’s, that event was overshadowed by a bolide that burst so bright and colorful that I cast a sharp, clear shadow on the ground…much brighter than a full moon, seemingly approaching the order of sunlight. The unexpected and unusual astronomical phenomena are truly spectacular and memorable. What did the ancients think?
Thanks so much, James and Jamie! I really appreciate these; I saw squat from my house – too much ambient light around. Even though the internet is full of similar photos, it’s great fun and really special to share the lucky sights of people we know or sort of know. I can just imagine the awe that you both felt!
That must have been an unforgettable experience for you both. Really awesome and how lucky to have such a dark sky where you live. Thank you!