A CHHSS produced the brightest ray aurora I’ve ever seen right at nightfall! As soon as it got dark enough (but before total dark), we could start to see the aurora in the northern sky, so we knew it was going to be good. As it got darker, the green light only got brighter! We made our way to a clearing on Boulder Dam Rd. to see a bright, well-defined ray dancing like a quill pen writing. There was a patch to the east low in the sky, but unfortunately the aurora was quieting down by the time we got to our next destination. When we made it to Boulder Lake, there was still a bright glow that continued as we drove around. The activity took a hiatus as it got closer to our bedtime, so we took it as a sign to go in and warm up. How convenient to have a bright aurora so early in the night! 🙂

A coronal hole detected a few days ago showed up big: I’m actually still outside as I type this, in case the aurora decides to act up again! Tonight I saw the brightest sub-storm I’ve seen yet…from my deck! Before 10:30 PM I noticed a sub-storm brewing, which is a big deal if I can see it from my apartment. I could actually see structure and movement so I went out to my favorite dark sky spot. It’s always a tense drive if I wait until after there’s activity to get out of the city lights, but just even seeing a diffuse glow in the night sky that’s not the moon is thrilling along the way. Even so, once I got onto scenic north shore drive, I could see patches even while driving. Once I got to my spot, I could clearly see the homogeneous patches pulsating and moving. At that time, the aurora filled up about half of the northern sky with the “racing clouds” phenomenon.

I got to my spot just after 11 PM and for the first time saw “Steve” just west of the aurora. I stayed out until sometime after midnight, submitting a live Aurorasaurus report with my best photo at the time from the “Slow Shutter” app. Getting sleepy and cold, and since it was a work night (turned morning), I decided to head back home. I looked out my bedroom window to take a last gaze, and noticed it was quite bright! Then, I saw double homogeneous arcs start to form from the glow, so I grabbed my warm folding chair and rushed out to my deck (I’m lucky to be on the top floor and thus above the street lights). The arcs “broke up” into the colorful dancing ribbon, and I gasped as well as kicked myself for leaving my dark sky spot! I couldn’t believe how visible it was even from my apartment. After the band dissipated, I noticed those spiky, trapezoidal rays to the northeast, though this time from my vantage they were not as bright nor colorful. I watched the flaming phenomenon for awhile filling up the whole sky to the zenith from my vantage. The real clouds are now chasing me inside which is probably a blessing for my sleep, but also a tease as I can see the lights getting bright behind the clouds again! Once more, seeing that brightness behind the clouds which would usually be a full moon is a thrill in itself.

May 20-23 Earth was within a CHHSS that disturbed the magnetosphere. On May 23 there was a weak CME but headed straight for us. It appears that the magnetosphere had been “cracked” enough for this to cause an amazing show!

I spent the 1st 4 hours of the day gawking at the best aurora show I’ve ever seen. The moon had set, but cloud cover was intermittent and less than favorable. From midnight onward, there was a corona, and around 1:30 AM I submitted my first Aurorasaurus report. It especially picked up in activity around 2:30 AM. For most of the night, the arc was relatively quiet, although bright. At a few points, it broke up into a band with rays, which others have likened to a “picket fence.” The aurora became really active around 3 AM, and for the 1st time, I was able to see the purple at the lowest altitude edge of the curtain! The bottom edge was like a folded ribbon during the peak of the sub-storm!

A coronal hole high speed stream a few days ago put us on alert for some activity. I was lucky enough to catch my 1st sub-storm while driving on North Shore Drive! As I was driving, the sky practically exploded in front of me so I immediately pulled over and cut off my headlights. Not only were there bright green bands northward,  but there were disconnected rays right in front of me! They were like diamond daggers, a sort of celestial firework that is hard to explain. I can’t even really find photos that do this phenomenon justice, because perhaps the camera picks up more light than the eye, so the effect is a little swamped out by the other light. They almost looked like a group of really diffuse comets with very broad, prismatic tails and geometric nuclei pointed toward the horizon.