Brightest Aurora of my lifetime tonight

[Tom King]

We have far from the best viewing conditions tonight with the Moon and a lot of moisture in the air.  One of my Astronomer friends asked me to go outside to see if I could see it.  We were able to the the last couple of displays only by holding our phones up.  I could see tonight better than this phone picture with my eyes and we haven't even turned the lights off in the dog yards yet.   We're fortunate to have this very low horizon to the North over our pastures just outside our house.

Harvey and I were texting back and forth.  I told him this must be the brightest display in our lifetime if I can see it this good in these poor conditions.  He texted back "Yep"

Last Spring we could see the purples and streamers but none of the green under almost perfect viewing conditions.

 

 

[B1rdhunter]

Pretty good here in Iowa also.

[Tom King]

This is only the fourth time in my lifetime that they've been visible in North Carolina.  I remember seeing them when I was very young in the early 1950's.

They were so bright last night that I could see them with my eyes even with the lights on.  On the North side of our house is a 16x48 foot covered "dog porch", and on each side of that is a dog yard for the boys and one for the girls.  It's all lit up like a ball field at night.  The Aurora was so bright that I could see this from the dog porch with all the lights on.  My iphone 11 can not capture them anything like as bright as I can see them.

This from the dog porch with the lights on.  You can see the lights shining onto the pasture and fence on the other side of the pasture.

 

[Tom King]

After we got the dogs in bed and all the lights out for the night, I went out and let my eyes adjust for a while and the whole Northern half of the sky was lit up.  I wish I had been able to catch it in a pic.  I hate people that have to leave lights on at night.  There was a lot of movement and streamers that couldn't be caught in a still pic.  This is probably as good as it gets in North Carolina, but they're supposed to be better tonight.

 

[legenddc]

I peaked outside last night but didn't see anything. Might have to drive somewhere tonight where I can get a better view of the sky.

[Tom King]

The sky is crystal clear here today and tonight.  Moon set is just before midnight.