Solar Max continues to produce auroras that are visible at low latitudes. The most recent occurred on the night of 10–11 December. Once again, I chose to shoot from Ashurst Lake because it has very good visibility to the north. This time, though, we did not venture out to the edge of the lake. Heavy rains in November (almost 5″) has resulted in wet soils that have not dried in the colder temperatures and low sun angles of December. No desire to sink in the mud!
Shooting from the parking lot was a good alternative but did not give the expansive reflections from the lake that I have enjoyed before.
The aurora substorm starts up to the northeast with numerous pillars visible.The pillars move westward over the next few minutes. The North Star, Polaris, is highlighted here to give a sense of the low heights of these pillars.The substorm subsided leaving just a faint glow to the north. A meteor (probably a Geminid) streaks across the sky with the aurora as a backdrop.
This aurora was lower intensity and much more difficult to see than the event in November. In fact, we were unable to see it with the unaided eye. Reviewing the photo images after the event clearly showed there was a sub storm that lasted about 20 minutes. The peak heights of the pillars was much lower than we have seen before.
I have been learning how to use satellite data to forecast when these substorms might appear. Here is a plot of the data leading up to the substorm which occurred around 1918—1940 MST (0218—0240 UTC 11 December 2025). The vertical line shows when the substorm pillars first appeared in my photographs.
Solar wind data used to forecast the aurora substorm.
Images: Nikon D850, 17mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 15 seconds.
The Sun remains active even though it has probably passed Solar Max—and auroras once again visited low latitudes, including northern Arizona. The geomagnetic storm forecast indicated auroras were likely into the middle latitudes with a chance of appearing at low latitudes. I was ready to view the aurora but the weather was uncooperative. Clouds increased during the day and by sunset a layer of high clouds covered the region. But an hour or two later I was able to see stars overhead (but not low on the horizon) so I decided it might be worth the effort.
It was worth the effort.
As we did for the October 2024 event, we watched and photographed the aurora from Ashurst Lake near Flagstaff, Arizona. I was again hoping to capture reflections of the aurora on the still waters of the lake and was successful. I even managed to capture an image with a heron standing in the shallow water and silhouetted by the bright aurora to the north.
At first the aurora was faint and clouds in the north blocked the view. Gradually, the clouds moved out of the way. And, then, between about 2135 and 2155 MST (0435 to 0455 UTC 12 November 2025) there was a strong substorm that lit up the sky. It was bright enough to illuminate the landscape and even cast faint shadows.
The aurora was seen as far south as latitude 13°N in El Salvador!
Here are a few still images and a time-lapse video. Images were shot with a Nikon D850, Tamron 12mm fisheye lens, ISO 3200, ƒ/4, 15 seconds.
The beginning of the substorm at 2140 MST (0440 UTC). Numerous pillars are visible across the northern sky (12mm fisheye lens).A few minutes later (2148 MST; 0448 UTC) a SAR (Stable Aurora Red) arc appears above the pillars.A heron wades in the shallow water of Ashurst Lake and is silhouetted by the bright aurora in the north.
Time-lapse video from 1948–2226 MST (0248–0526 UTC). Very little activity is present at first but then the substorm erupts with numerous pillars developiing along with a SAR (Stable Aurora Red) arc the propogates upgward. And all of this is reflected in the lake.
And there may be yet more big events during this solar cycle!
Here is some additional information about this aurora and current solar cycle.
Some of the strongest and most widespread displays of auroras since Oct. 10, 2024, occurred overnight on Tuesday, Nov. 11, into Wednesday, Nov. 12, according to NOAA, caused by one of the most powerful G4-rated geomagnetic storms of the current solar cycle.
The potent geomagnetic storm occurred after two particularly fast-moving coronal mass ejections — clouds of charged particles from the sun — erupted from the sun on Sunday, Nov. 9, and Monday, Nov. 10, in the wake of an X1.7 and X1.2-class solar flares. It left space weather scientists on high alert this week.
The last three major events from the current solar cycle are shown in this table from Wikipedia:
X1.2(X1.3)-class flares[95] and X4.5-class flare.[96] The flares with a magnitude of 6–7 occurred between 30 April and 4 May 2024. On 5 May the strength of the solar storm reached 5 points, which is considered strong according to the K-index. The rapidly growing sunspot AR3663 became the most active spot of the solar cycle 25. On 5 May alone, it emitted two X-class (strongest) flares and six M-class (medium) flares. Each of these flares resulted in a short-term but profound disconnection of the Earth’s radio signal, resulting in signal loss at frequencies below 30 megahertz (MHz).[97]
With a NOAA rating of G5, an estimated peak Dst of −412 nT, and aurorae seen at far lower latitudes than usual in both hemispheres, this geomagnetic storm was the most powerful to affect Earth since November 2003. A later study estimates a Dst peak of −518 nT, meaning the strongest storm since 1989 and the second strongest since 1921.[71]
Oct 2024
October 2024 solar storm
Triggered by an X1.8 solar flare that produced a relatively fast CME.[104][105] The storm reached a peak Dst of −341 nT.[106] Auroras seen as far south as Cuba.[107]
The Sun remains active as it approaches Solar Max and the possibilities of observing the aurora at lower latitudes remains good. Earlier this month there was a Severe Geomagnetic Storm (G4 with Kp8) that produced visible auroras in northern Arizona. Some of the pillars of light were easy to see–others required longer exposures on the camera.
We watched and photographed the event from Ashurst Lake near Flagstaff, Arizona. I was hoping to capture reflections of the aurora on the still waters of the lake and was successful.
Here are a few images…
The first pillars of the aurora appear even before twilight has ended.Only a few minutes later.Green aurora begins to fill the sky...and fills more of the sky…An ultra-wide angle lens was not wide enough so I switched to a fish-eye lens.A “picket fence” pattern was briefly visible.The aurora subsides.
…and a time-lapse video (~190 MB) of the event.
Time-lapse video of the aurora of 10-11 October 2024.
The beginning of a strong substorm of actiivity. Some of the best and brightest colors occurred at this time.
It has been called the Great Aurora Storm of 2024 and it occurred on May 10–13 with the peak occurring on May 10–11. It was seen across high, middle, and even low latitudes and it was the strongest geomagnetic storm in decades. From the NASA science site:
May 2024 has already proven to be a particularly stormy month for our Sun. During the first full week of May, a barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest solar storm to reach Earth in two decades — and possibly one of the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years.
At its most intense the event was classified as a G5-class geomagnetic storm (Kp = 9).
Time-lapse video of the aurora substorm. Images at 30-second intervals.
Was not trying for a panorama–but these three shots about 1-2 minutes apart still sort of work.The aurora begin to move higher in the sky towards the zenith.Higher still and almost reaching the zenith.Aurora at the zenith.
We were in Colorado at the time visiting family and I only carried a Sony RX10, a camera with a 24–200mm zoom at constant f/2.8 aperture. It’s a good camera but doing long exposures at high ISO at night is not its strong point. Well, you’ve probably heard the saying: “the best camera is the one you have with you.”
Looking to the south as the aurora reached and passed the zenith. The rapid motion in the aurora was fantastic.Looking north as the substorm began to subside and the aurora retreated to the north.
So I used what I had with me. The results were mixed. Some of the images are noisy at high ISO settings. Some of the long-exposure images show tripod shake resulting in streaky stars. And so on.
There have been some amazing photographs published on social media sites–including a shot that I have been trying to get for the past few years of increasing auroral activity.
Ah, well. We still haven’t hit the solar max which is expected between late 2024 and early 2026 so there will be other opportunities.
So here are some photographs taken from our location in northeast Colorado.
Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.
The aurora borealis that occurred Sunday night (23 April 2023) was an impressive event. The storm parameters* were all indicative of a major event so it was worth the effort to drive to a nearby dark (or at least reasonably dark) location and try to get some aurora photos.
Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.
I assumed that the aurora, if visible from northern Arizona, would be low on the northern horizon so I wanted a location without city lights to my north. The best location would have been the South Rim of Grand Canyon looking over the North Rim but clouds were plentiful in that region. So I headed south from Flagstaff and ended up on Anderson Mesa which has many good viewing locations.
Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.
Upon arrival I looked to the north but saw nothing with the unaided eye. A quick photo test, however, revealed that the aurora was in progress and visible through the clouds that were to the north. I took photos from about 2045 until 2330. The aurora was at its best from 2100 to 2145. It was much weaker and very faint after that time although still visible. At its peak, the auroral colors extended upwards 30–40 degrees in the sky!
Aurora borealis on 23 April 2023 as seen from northern Arizona.
I tried to see the aurora with the unaided eye but was never able to see it. I think that was because there was some light pollution from Flagstaff (yeah, it’s a Dark Sky city but it puts out more stray light with each passing year) and lights reflecting off the low clouds that were present to the north.
Time-lapse of aurora from 2053–2228 MST 23 April 2023.
But the camera had no difficulty capturing the subtle colors. I was shooting with a Nikon D750 and a Tamron 17–35mm wide angle lens set at 17mm, aperture was f/2.8, exposure was 15 seconds, and ISO 3200. I was using an intervalometer set to take a photo every minute. The camera was also set to do LENR (long exposure noise reduction) so that the actual time the camera was active was 30 seconds out of each minute. This gave me a chance to quickly review images after each shot was taken and that was useful. On the other hand, taking exposures without LENR and shooting, for example, every 15 seconds would have resulted in a much smoother time lapse. Good stuff to know for the next time we get an aurora event this far south!
