This past Tuesday, October 8, a significant solar flare erupted and unleashed a powerful burst of charged particles that collided with Earth’s magnetic field, triggering a severe geomagnetic storm. These disturbances produce dazzling auroras typically reserved for high-latitude regions like Canada and Scandinavia. However, this time, NOAA announced an extraordinary display of colors visible on October 10 from lower latitudes, including North Carolina—something you don’t hear every day.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the show started earlier than expected. Right after sunset, a glimpse of the aurora was already evident. At first, I thought the red hue in the sky was the afterglow of the setting Sun on clouds above my house, but I knew it was a perfectly clear evening. This was an obvious sign of the storm’s strength. Time to pack the camera and tripod and head to an open field!
I joined a small crowd of aurora enthusiasts who had chosen the same observing spot. As I set up the camera, I was expecting to see just a pinkish glow in the sky, but I stood in awe as green, yellow, pink and purple ribbons of light painted a surreal picture that I never expected to witness from the outskirts of Raleigh. Even the bright waxing gibbous Moon couldn’t outshine the brilliance of the aurora.
Watching those bands of light shift and flow across the night sky was mesmerizing. For me, it was a humbling experience, a vivid reminder of the dynamic relationship between the Earth and the Sun. I hope that Mr Hendrix will excuse me for stealing his line, but that purple haze made me wanna kiss the sky!
