Aurora Borealis, September 11, 2005

On September 9, 2005, Sunspot 798 hurled a magnitude X17 flare into space.  This solar flare was one of the top 10 most powerful in recorded history.  The resulting CME impacted earth late in the evening of September 10th resulting in a severe geomagnetic storm.  The images on this page were captured between 11:15 p.m. September 10, and 5:00 a.m. September 11, 2005.  It was a very active display with fluttering curtains of light and bursts of light which pulsed overhead. 

The image on the right was taken as the Sun was setting on September 13, 2005.  Sunspot 798 is visible in the image.  Image taken with a Nikon D100 and a 300mm zoom lens.