BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on May 11, 2024 6:34:46 GMT -8
Despite years of the media crying wolf and a couple days of steady rain, I was cautiously optimistic about seeing the aurora borealis last night. The clouds finally dissipated by midnight. I eagerly tilted my head back and stared up at what was supposed to be the strongest ionic flux in over 30 years. I checked half a dozen times between 11 and three. It was sort of like looking for the floaters in my eyes. I couldn't be sure that most of what I saw was really there. Every now and then, a couple impossibly fast spiraling streaks of light would whiz past the edge of my field of view. Once it looked like the background light intensity shifted a bit. The neighbor's dog barked. That was about it.
Did anyone get a better show?
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on May 11, 2024 6:47:51 GMT -8
Cloudy and rainy here. I saw a picture online that I think said Alabama of the aurora and included in the caption that the photographer didn't see anything with their naked eye but the camera did.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on May 11, 2024 7:25:56 GMT -8
It was a pretty good show on the beach in Seattle. Naked eye sometimes just saw light streaks, other times could see red and green. The cell phone camera intensified the colors a lot.   |
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on May 11, 2024 7:32:01 GMT -8
A report from someone I know from NH. No colors to the naked eye but he got this with his iPhone with 3 sec night mode:  |
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on May 11, 2024 7:36:41 GMT -8
My top photo is really only a little intense than what we could see. Green and red were at times distinctly visible to the bare eye; I could see enough to vouch that all those colors really were there.
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on May 11, 2024 7:54:57 GMT -8
I didn't think of trying the sensors on my phone or camera.
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Post by hikerchick395 on May 11, 2024 8:03:46 GMT -8
I didn't think of trying the sensors on my phone or camera. Me neither. I went outside and it was cloudy, but the sky was a weird color. I wish that I would've tried the phone camera. Lots of photos from California, all the way down to Anza Borrego... UGH |
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Post by atvtuner on May 11, 2024 8:40:19 GMT -8
Great show here. From the metro east of St Louis  |
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reuben
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Post by reuben on May 11, 2024 9:20:29 GMT -8
I didn't think of trying the sensors on my phone or camera. Yeah, it's like photographing the Milky Way. You need a few seconds of shutter speed and a wide aperture. For the Milky Way it helps to be in the southern hemisphere. I steadfastly slept through the cloudy skies, but wish I had a better opportunity for a view. |
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on May 11, 2024 14:22:36 GMT -8
I didn't think of trying the sensors on my phone or camera. I would probably have tried, since I could see something. But I’d also read in the paper that the camera would see it better—and my daughter was getting reports from friends all over saying the same thing. My iPhone 15 was definitely better at it than her ancient SE |
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Post by Sleeping Bag Man! on May 11, 2024 14:44:40 GMT -8
Cloudy last night here...then mostly sunny all day...now clouds & rain socking in again as night falls. :(
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on May 11, 2024 14:55:35 GMT -8
Cloudy last night here...then mostly sunny all day...now clouds & rain socking in again as night falls. :(
It will reportedly occur again tonight, but we'll have heavy overcast and rain as well.
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Post by swimswithtrout on May 11, 2024 16:07:44 GMT -8
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on May 11, 2024 16:23:14 GMT -8
Wow, lots of reds and purples! I only got plain, old green.
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sarbar
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Post by sarbar on May 11, 2024 17:19:06 GMT -8
If you go out tonight, a few hours after last light, with your phone? Either shoot on night mode which is 5 seconds, or just regular, which if it is totally dark? It's 5 seconds on many cameras. Run that through Instagram and deepened the saturation. It pops!
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