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February 1, 2015 Auroras

St. Louis County (Giant's Ridge), MN

A corotating interaction region started to affect Earth in the late afternoon, and although I was away from home and had been skiing during the day, I had brought some camera equipment with me because I knew a high speed stream was due sometime during the weekend. Sure enough, the Bz component of the magnetic field dropped south, and that got the auroras started in the early evening. They did not get too bright (and I did not get out from underneath a few cirrus clouds) before Bz went north for the rest of the evening. I managed to get a couple shots at the Giant's Ridge golf course (the ski area would be great, but it has too many lights).

From Giant's Ridge, I decided to continue northeast to Ely, but during my trip there was the time Bz went north. I stayed and waited a bit for Bz to drop back south, but it stayed north, so I went home.

Nice Auroras
Auroras over Giant's Ridge golf course. Pretty dim against the full moon-illuminated clouds.
Nice Auroras
Auroras over Giant's Ridge golf course. Pretty dim against the full moon-illuminated clouds.
Nice Auroras
No auroras visible on Burntside Lake near Ely.

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