Observing the Northern Lights

Caption: Picture of my telescope and I taking in the Northern Lights!

Title: Observing the Northern Lights

I was excited. After finishing a week of work, I was en-route to my favorite Friday night get-away: Wyoming. Even though clouds passed by as I made my 2 hour trek, all the forecast models were clear that I would have clear skies by the time darkness arrived. As I drove, I thought about my plans for the evening. With my bluetooth speaker, my cameras, and my telescope, I would arrive at my destination (a friend’s house in a Bortle 2), set up my photography equipment, then drive to my observation site where I would observe galaxies and sketch them. When I finish sketching, I would return to my friend’s house and photograph the night sky.

At about 5:45 PM, I got a notification on my phone of a G5 Solar Storm warning. I started to think that just maybe I could get a glimpse of the Northern Lights. Little did I know I was going to have an evening I would never forget.

My First Northern Light Experience

I live 40° North of the equator. Typically, this is way too far south for any Northern Lights to ever be observed. This means that I have never seen them, and rarely ever get the chance to.

The first time I saw them was on April 23, 2023. They were very faint on the horizon, and while my camera picked up color, my eye could only see a glow in the sky. Tragically, I was only able to observe them for 5 minutes before clouds completely filled the sky and I was treated to a cloudy night. There were a couple other nights over the last year where I heard rumors of the Northern Lights being visible, but I never saw them. Part of what makes it tricky is the fact that they are very difficult to predict and they are hard to plan on.

With the spontaneity of the Northern Lights and how far south I am, I never make plans or count on seeing them.

Caption: My first picture of the Northern Lights on April 23, 2023. Obviously, there are a lot of clouds. Made for a cloudy night!

My Best Northern Lights Experience

Then came Friday, May 10 of 2024. I pulled off the side of the road at 9 PM. As the evening darkened, I could hear the singing of the meadowlarks come to a stop. I pulled out my telescope, and then decided to look for Polaris in the darkening sky. As I glanced north, I noticed some pillars of light mixed with the evening shade. I have never seen anything like it! I thought, “Could it be?”. Grabbing my phone, I snapped a picture. And sure enough, they were there!

Caption: The cellphone picture of the Northern Lights at dusk. Little did I know the kind of night that was in store for me!

I was super excited at that point. I found myself immediately texting all my family and friends to tell them to look north! I was hoping for them to share this rare experience with me.

The evening’s Northern Lights show started somewhat unimpressive. (Even though it was very impressive to me). The majority of the lights were only visible in grayscale, and they were not very bright. Even so, I still could see the light pillars and “light pollution blobs” clouding the night sky.

I was super excited at that point. I found myself immediately texting all my family and friends to tell them to look north! I was hoping for them to share this rare experience with me.

The evening’s Northern Lights show started somewhat unimpressive. (Even though it was very impressive to me). The majority of the lights were only visible in grayscale, and they were not very bright. Even so, I still could see the light pillars and “light pollution blobs” clouding the night sky.

Caption: Photograph of the Northern Lights at 9:48 PM. The show was just getting started.

As the evening progressed, I watched as more obvious light pillars started to form in the sky. It was impressive the amount of light I could see. One thing I noticed was the Northern Lights were so intense that I could not perceive the Great Rift of the Milkyway as it rose. The Northern Lights were too bright!

It wasn’t until around 11:45 PM that the Northern Lights put on a stunning show. As I was observing some deep space objects with my telescope, just for fun, I noticed an intense red light pillar to my northwest. I was stunned that I could see the red with my own eyes!

Caption: 11:44 PM. Looking northwest, here is my first photograph with the pink light pillar. This was naked eye visible, including the color!

What started as an insignificant little red light pillar exploded into an incredible and colorful show in just 5 minutes!

Caption: 11:50 PM. Looking northwest, here is another photograph of the same light pillar. It exploded into an incredible show!

This was the beginning of the incredible evening of awe and wonder. From this point forward, the Northern Lights would be naked eye visible… color and all! I was able to walk around, read, and write without the need for a headlamp. I spent some time observing the night sky and journaled my experiences in my notebook. Scroll to the end to read my journal.

Then around midnight, I decided to look up toward Zenith. There sat Arcturus, brightly shining in the night sky. But all around Arcturus were gray clouds of light blobs. A photograph revealed the incredible color that was within them.

Caption: A photograph looking at Zenith. The bright star in the green bird-shaped “cloud” is Arcturus.

It was also at this time that I was able to observe the pulsing in the sky! When Northern Lights are intense, they will pulse across the night sky. It looks similar to a flame across the sky that grows and shrinks like a lightning bolt. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life!

The Northern Lights continued to shine. I was just stunned and fascinated by them. At around 12:30 AM, I drove a mile east to reposition myself to get some profile shots of Tea Kettle Rock. I think this has to be one of my favorite pictures of the Northern Lights I caught. I love the vivid color of this photo, which was visible (but more greyscale) naked-eye.

Caption: The Northern Lights behind Tea Kettle Rock @ 12:40 AM

I continued to photograph the night sky until 1:20 AM. I would’ve continued to photograph, but I had committed to host Bible study at my house, which was 2 hours away, at 9 AM Saturday morning! As I drove back to my friend’s house, I had to drive through Torrington, Wyoming (which is a Bortle 4 in light pollution). As I drove through the street-lit roads of Torrington, I was able to observe the Northern Lights shining in the sky. They outshined the light-polluted sky.

When I finally got to my friend’s house at 2:30 AM, I set up my camera to do a complete timelapse of the Northern Lights for when I slept from 2:30 to 6 AM.

To view the timelapse, it is posted on my website.

From My Observation Journal

Date: 5/10/2024
Lunar Phase: ~10%
Transparency: Good
Seeing: Fair
Equipment & Eyepieces: Apertura AD8; 20mm, 15mm, 9mm
Weather: Clear Skies, 49ºF, no wind

9:10 PM:

G5 Geomagnetic Storm today. I can observe light pillars of the Northern Lights beneath Polaris. Currently they are a gray shade, but it’s not dark yet. More Northern Lights visible SE in Virgo, but they are light blobs.

9:23 PM:

Took my first picture, the sky is lit up with them. Observing may be difficult. Noticeable light pillars and shade of light along N —> E. Camera reveals green and pink everywhere! Notice light blob south in Corvus. Still not dark.

9:30 PM:

I saw glimpses of the green shade in the sky. The south blob has retreated, but very clear seeing to the north. Light pillars are visible. Particularly strong glow from Cassiopeia to Lyra.

A meadowlark keeps chirping every few minutes.

The Great Rift of the Milkyway is not visible. Only the brightest stars of Cygnus are visible.

10:52 PM:

Been observing the Northern Lights this whole time. They are like a giant, moving, light pollution blob. But filled with light pillars. The different shades of the green are visible, although difficult to perceive. Red and purple shades, as evidenced by my photographs, are not visible. It’s fascinating to see them above and all across the night sky. South sky has been pretty quiet, but photos reveal impressive red/violet shades.

11:10 PM:

I have my telescope set up, attempting to observe targets. The Northern Lights may make it difficult in some ways.

M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy:
Only faint fuzzies of the core are visible. Not able to detect the fuzz of the arms or the arms themselves. It’s not worth the study to sketch.

Ring Nebula:
Visible with averted vision, but faint. When looking directly, it’s a blob. Averted vision reveals the ring.

M13 - Hercules Cluster:
I was able to find it through the finderscope. (Note: not visible with averted vision without aid from binoculars/telescope)

Bee Hive is still visible [naked-eye]. Hercules is visible, blob. No arms are really visible, even with averted vision.

12:11 AM:

Around 11:30, the lights grew brighter and more impressive. I can walk around and see like it was day.

At 11:45ish, I noticed some obvious greens, yellows, and pinks! You can see the color!

Now at 12:00am, I noticed pulsing. It looks a lot like a flame flying through the atmosphere, a bursting out kind of like lightning. It tends to move NE —> SW, but southward overall. Light pillars are visible, clearly with pulsing, at zenith.

Observer’s Note: One thing I did not record when I was observing, but I remember thinking, is that my Bortle 2 sky was probably the equivalent of a Bortle 5 or Bortle 6 of light pollution. Throughout my evening, I could not observe the Milkyway even though it was rising to the East and reached about 45º overhead. The Northern Lights were too bright!

The Aurora at zenith. The bright star in the middle right is Arcturus.