Geomagnetic alerts all over the news on Friday May 10th, and the NOAA website lit up like a Christmas tree sent me scurrying outside at 10:00 PM hoping for the clouds to lift. We’ve had so many false aurora alarms over the years, but this one was different.
Everything had to come together – little to no moonlight, clear skies, high geomagnetic activity, and a flare spewing intensely charged particles directly towards earth. Our sky had been overcast for most of the day. But luck was with us this time as the clouds lifted by about 10:30 PM local time. I headed out to Norton Cemetery in Keene with my camera and tripod, and stayed out until about 1 AM. I’d have stayed longer but I did have to get out of bed before noon on Saturday!
One thing that for sure, your eye doesn’t pick up the intense colors that you see in photographs. To me, it was a slightly greenish haze of wispy tendrils dancing around the sky. But my camera saw things differently!
The Neophyte Astronomer 
Dave:
Nice that you got to see them. I just enjoyed them from my porch here in
Placid.
Are you aware of this site?…
http://www.spaceweather.com
It has a lot of info on auroras and predictions – and yes, it’s ‘fine’.
I’ve used it for years.
We sure need this cloudy spell to END!
Clear Skies!
George
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Hey George – I saw them from my north facing balcony but too many trees to get the full effect…a visit to the cemetery only five minutes down the road let me see the whole sky, and it was amazing! Yup, I look at spaceweather.com. Good to hear from you.
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