November 22, 2020 Auroras
Pughole Lake
A high speed stream of solar wind brought some auroras to high geomagnetic latitudes. I headed out under partly to mostly cloudy skies to try to see some. The moon had just set, so I would not have to deal with illuminated clouds. Any illumination I would see to the north would be from auroras.
This strategy worked. There were some breaks in the clouds, which allowed a bit of glow to come through. From my perspective, I just saw glow in breaks in the clouds. Upon looking at my images more closely, I could see there was a band of aurora a few degrees above the northern horizon.
Overall, it wasn't a major event. 2020 has not been a year with major auroras, but that was expected since we are just coming out of solar minimum. Initial sunspots have not been particularly active in producing strong solar flares, and coronal holes are not very prevalent at this point in the solar cycle.
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| An auroral glow behind the clouds above Prairie Lake . |
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| An auroral band behind the clouds on Pughole Lake . |