Beautiful Aurora in Edmonton, Oct 10 2024

From Thursday, October 9 2024,  through the weekend it is a period of intense solar activity where the aurora can even be seen from the United States.  Up here in Canada, it is going to be a good light show.  I've lived in Edmonton for a long time and I finally went out yesterday on Oct. 10 and successfully saw the aurora or northern lights for the first time.   The I've tried several times before but it has been hazy or overcast so I haven't been too successful. However, success is a variable thing still.  In the city, the aurora could only be seen as a shifting white haze in the night sky with the naked eye.  When you view it through an iPhone camera, it complete changes to the pictures you see below as the sensor is so much more sensitive than the eye itself.  So, augmented reality northern lights are much prettier.  Otherwise you have to drive out of the city to see it!

I tried twice to see the aurora.  The first time, there was too much light cloud and it wasn't too good at 8 PM.  I went out again after 10 PM and there was some pretty good activity for 20 or 30 minutes.  I lost track of time.

The aurora was pretty cool in how these veils of light would shift around.  I saw mainly purple to green, and there were some amazing greens.  I thought it would fill the entire night sky, but it was actually kind of patchy with darkness and intense areas of colour.  It was sometimes banded, sometimes in a long ribbon or ribbons, and the shape kept changing and different parts of the sky would light up.

My favourite shot.

I shot pictures showing a wide patch of sky and also shots going straight up above my head.  There were some pretty amazing and intense patterns of light.  The most intense patch happened about five minutes after I was out and lasted like 10 or 15 minutes over various parts of the sky.

It was an interesting light show from inside the city.  I was standing by myself in the middle of a big dark sports field to take most of these shots, so it was wide open sky all around. You do have to get away from streetlights and such to get a more interesting view. One day, I'll have to get out of the city to see it with a dark night sky.  Should be super fantastic then!