Aurora borealis returns!

Finally!!

After a good six year drought, a brief but dramatic display of the northern lights returned to the region. Scott Kampas had notified me earlier in the evening that the chance existed, but was minimal so I went about my evening. While relaxing at home an hour or so later, Scott Weberpal called me and left a voicemail saying that the northern lights were going insane at that moment, so I sprinted out the front door and looked up, greeted by a big red glow. It's extremely rare to have them almost directly overhead this far south into the middle latitudes, especially considering that it was a marginal CME in the first place. The last time I was treated to a display such as this was back in May of 2005. That one takes the cake however, as the show persisted for almost the entire night versus this brief display.

Luckily I did not attempt to drive out into the open country as I would have missed the show for the most part. There happens to be an open area with a drive leading down toward a water treatment facility across the street to the north of my house, so I simply set up shop in the middle of that big drive and started popping off shots.

The foreground could have been a little better, but who's looking at that, anyway?