Twice in 2024! Auroras in Central California

Again in Could of this yr, I noticed one thing I had by no means seen earlier than: the aurora borealis gracing the night sky over the prairie of the Sierra Nevada foothills. It was an astounding once-in-a-life occasion. Besides it wasn’t. The solar has been significantly lively this yr, and a coronal mass ejection occurred a couple of days in the past that despatched charged particles racing in the direction of the Earth. For the second time in my life, I noticed the aurora borealis from my residence space.I used to be educating a web-based geology lab and occurred throughout a report that auroras had been being sighted in uncommon locations, and anxiously awaited for my college students to complete their work. I checked out my entrance door and took a shot of the sky within the closely light-polluted setting, and my cellphone digital camera caught the attribute magenta-pink mild. I talked Mrs. Geotripper into taking a late-night drive to the prairie-lands close to Willms Highway outdoors of Knight’s Ferry on the Stanislaus River.
The lights had been instantly evident in my cellphone digital camera photos. They had been very dim to the bare eye, however the evening shot setting on my cellphone captured the detailed spires and constructions within the lights fairly effectively.
The depth, shade, and sample of the sunshine modified from second to second. It was a pleasant option to spend a night!
The lights pale after about an hour and we went residence. I hope you bought an opportunity to see them, however when you did not, please take pleasure in what we obtained to see!





The lights weren’t higher or worse than these of final Could. They had been simply totally different. It was a privilege to have the ability to view this present of the cosmos.