October 13, 2016 Auroras
Itasca County, MN
A filament eruption sent out a CME a couple days earlier, and the CME hit earth a bit early. The initial magnetic field looked pretty weak, but it grew stronger during the night. I had stayed up late to catch up on some chores at home, and by the time I went to bed, Bz had dropped below -10 nT. Things were looking pretty good, and I was not feeling sleepy, so out I went.
A good friend of mine had died of brain cancer the preceeding weekend, and I remembered shooting with him a couple times out on Peterson Road. I decided that would be the first place I would shoot the next time I saw auroras. The auroras did not put on much of a show, however, and the clouds moved in, so I decided to move northwest and away from the clouds.
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| An auroral glow at Peterson Road. |
To Deer Lake I drove, stopping at the boat landing on the south side of the lake. The nearly full moon was getting lower in the sky, and it would soon set. I stayed until the moon was at least low enough that it no longer interfered with the auroras. Again, the clouds moved in, but clearing was farther to the west. I decided to move west.
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| Deer Lake auroras at 24 mm. |
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| Same auroras at 16mm. |
I found clearing skies at Ball Club Lake, but it was now nearly 4:00 AM, and I needed some sleep. Bz was pretty far south, but it did not look like the auroras were going to put on a good show for sunrise, and the clouds were not clearing completely, so I stopped shooting and went home to get a couple hours sleep before work.
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| Ball Club Lake. |