January 5, 2014 Auroras
Ely, MN
I decided to head northeast toward Ely to try and shoot some time lapse for the display I'll be putting together with Heidi Pinkerton at the North American Bear Center. The solar wind conditions looked pretty good, but the moon was full, and the ground was white. That usually doesn't bring about very good contrast, but if the auroras are really bright, it really doesn't make a big difference.
Tonight they were not very bright. I was surprised when we spotted them so high in the sky. Bz was only between -5 nT and -9 nT at best. Sometimes we get weaker bands of auroras that break off and move to the south of the main oval, and then they weaken and dissipate as the main oval intensifies to the north. Tonight, I did not see the main auroral arc on the northern horizon. Once this weaker band dissipated, we were done. That wasn't too dissapointing however. I would be able to drive all the way back to Grand Rapids and get to bed before midnight. Not bad.
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| Early evening auroras on Fernberg Road east of Ely. |