I monitor space weather sites frequently in winter months in case there is a chance for a trip up north, but that usually stops by May since it is light until midnight or after in most typical viewing locations up north at that time of year. So, it was just a fluke I heard about an increase in solar CME activity and started monitoring NOAA space weather products by 5/9. After 5 or more flares were known to have ejected toward earth, I started to believe the hype that this could be a rare G5 event. Friday morning I left CO for northern Wyoming to avoid clouds and get past any sources of light pollution (cities, oil and gas production) that would be north of me. I ended up north east of Gilette, and had a great view.
At blue hour I could already see purpling from reds and knew this would be quite something for the lower latitudes. I was very fortunate to find good calm water for some reflections. I took 9000 images of timelapse on 3 mirrorless cameras as well as some video of the event, resulting in 500GB of data to deal with! While not quite as spectacular as seeing a strong storm in Alaska, Iceland, etc. this was truly special, and a much more cost effective and simpler night to achieve. Plus, I had a great time camping by the lake the night and next day!
At blue hour I could already see purpling from reds and knew this would be quite something for the lower latitudes. I was very fortunate to find good calm water for some reflections. I took 9000 images of timelapse on 3 mirrorless cameras as well as some video of the event, resulting in 500GB of data to deal with! While not quite as spectacular as seeing a strong storm in Alaska, Iceland, etc. this was truly special, and a much more cost effective and simpler night to achieve. Plus, I had a great time camping by the lake the night and next day!
