Aurora Borealis (Northern lights) October 10, 2024

Description:

On October 9, 2024, a major solar flare occurred at the location on the Sun that was directly aligned with Earth. This was what scientists call a halo coronal mass ejection (CME). Alerts were triggered on all monitoring networks and people were excitedly awaiting the arrival of the ejected particles on the Earth’s natural protective belt, the Van Allen Belt.

The resulting auroras the following night were of an unusual magnitude. Unfortunately, for most people in Quebec, the clouds came to play spoilsport. I was lucky for a few hours and had a large gap in the clouds (4th photo below) but a veil of clouds still covered a good part of the sky. I dare not imagine the spectacle we would have had in a clear sky.

The best way to capture this spectacle was to use a cell phone camera and stabilize it with a suitable tripod. Here are some photos of this magical evening.