Clear skies. No clouds. As little moon light and ambient as possible. And a few other factors. But mostly being away from light and clouds

That particular storm lasted days

It’s true!

On the average night your camera is gonna see it better, on a really strong night your eyes see it better. It has to do with the rods in our eyes at night we don’t see color really well unless it is bright. Think of driving down a dark road all the cars looks dark until your headlight hits it, then you can see the color. But you not seeing the colors well is an optical illusion of sorts because the camera is capturing what’s actually there. The flip side is on a bright night like this one, your eyes see it better because the camera can only absorb so much info to its sensor before it turns everything white, what we call blowing out. This particular night the reds were so vibrant from the super dense solar winds that Ray Charles could have seen them.

Can’t stop won’t stop

This particular night the lights were visible in Ohio actually. I even saw someone post photos as far south as Death Valley with some visible aurora. It was quite the treat

Really great shot

Yup. The Kp really isn’t a good way to forecast the aurora as it’s a measure of previous activity. We like to look at solar wind speeds and the bz. When the BZ is negative with an elevated solar wind there will be aurora.

I’m an aurora guide in Alaska and have seen it every night I have gone looking for it this season. As long as the skies are clear and you can see stars you have a chance. Download the space weather live app

Thank you 🙏

This is about 5 hours south of Fairbanks near Whittier. But there are plenty of spots in Fairbanks to catch the lights if the solar data is good

This is really well done Nate. I took a similar photo Last month in Alaska, love the contrast between the moon and aurora.

Entirely contained in my kitchen even

Taken during this last crazy solar storm. Shot on my a7iii and sigma 20mm 1.4 640 ISO .6 second exposure.

If anyone is interested in seeing some of my other shots, you can see some at this link.

https://jacobcohenphotography.darkroom.com

Nothing beat the views a few hundred feet from that parking lot. It’s truly a low effort high reward scenario

Is it mandatory that someone makes this post everytime lol

Anyways I’m off to get some steamed hams

There’s plenty of aurora activity but unfortunately lots of clouds too

Ah- Aurora Borealis!? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen!?

The stronger the lights get the easier it is for your the rods in your eyes to pick up the color. When the aurora is really weak it looks white like a cloud, and the camera always picks up the color better. But when the aurora is strong your eyes pick up the colors better because the camera blows out the highlights

Yes they did, I was watching from anchorage tonight punching the air lol

20mm 1.4 2000iso 4 sec

Please do!

August 21- mid April is aurora season for us. So anytime there is clear skies and a solar event. I like march personally as it’s not too cold

Awesome thank you 🙏

There some earth in it too 🏔️