Northern Lights October 2024
A truly X-Class Aurora display
A Year of Northern Lights Photography
What a time for aurora hunters! The past year has been unforgettable for anyone passionate about northern lights photography.
At the time of writing it has been officially announced that the sun has reached the peak of its 11 year solar cycle. Given the incredible aurora display we just had on October 10th following a couple of strong X-class flares, this news is hardly surprising.
For someone who is relatively new to aurora photography, some of these displays - even just here in Northumberland - have been otherworldly experiences. I wonder what the more dedicated aurora chaser makes of it all? Those who regularly make the trip to or live in the arctic circle probably see this kind of thing all the time. But for those of us in lower latitudes becoming aware of it for the first time, this is a trip into a whole new universe.
An Introduction to Aurora Photography
For me at least, the last 12 months following this Northern Lights display I captured up at Sweethope Loughs windfarm (above), has opened up an entirely new avenue of photography for me to become addicted to. I’m not one for photographing galaxies and constellations - that requires an entirely different skillset with dedicated equipment - though astronomical events such as comets and meteor showers definitely fall into my radar. Solar storms however obviously appeal to my love of the natural sublime and I guess it was only a matter of time before that fire was lit.
The timeline of events was a curious one. The beginning of October saw a number of consecutive X-Class solar flares from different sunspot regions fire off a barrage of Coronal Mass Ejections toward Earth in a high phase of activity. These ejections, some stronger and more direct than others, appear to have reached us all at the same time resulting in the modest display with STEVE on Monday 7th and culminating in the awe-inspiring Northern Lights display of October 10th.
October's Powerful Northern Lights Display
The Monday night was spent at one of my favourite locations for aurora photography; St. Aidan’s Church in Thockrington. This is a beautiful 11th century church that stands isolated on top of a small hill with unobstructed views in all directions. One of the oldest churches in England, it looks surprisingly modern in the sense that it looks like it was built 100 years ago, rather than 1000. I’m grateful this location isn’t more popular as it affords so much peace and tranquility and a time to reflect on the wonder of all things. Everyone else heads to the various castles along the coast, ruining each other’s photography by waving their head torches about.
This Northern Lights display was fairly modest and short lived but it had a spectacular STEVE display, even better than the one I saw at Sweethope Loughs the previous November. Though not as long lived, this time the STEVE had what I learned in the moment was a ‘picket fence’ effect where tall white pillars could be seen rippling along the main deep red ribbon. To see this overhead in realtime was startling, like seeing the hotspot of a searchlight sweeping the sky.
Chasing the Northern Lights
Once the display here had ebbed, and with alerts still pinging on my phone from Glendale, I made the slight detour on the way home to the ever reliable Bolam Lake. Here, the display appeared to be even stronger, with green and red pillars incredibly vibrant even to the naked eye which, of course, looked amazing reflected in the still waters of the lake. Its amazing how, standing on the small jetty that extends out from the shore, how suddenly unsure you become on your feet. The jetty is steady enough, but navigating around such a small area in the dark has you terrified that either you or your camera is gonna ditch in the water.
I thought that was it for now, that the CME’s from all those X-Class flares had actually missed us because so much time had passed since their eruption. Come Thursday afternoon however and my phone is pinging relentlessly with alerts for interplanetary shocks and sudden IMF enhancements.
Something big was coming.
- Now, a brief caveat; as I’m still relatively new to aurora chasing, I was unaware at this point of medium range forecasting. Though I regularly consult the space weather website for current K-Index values, I was unaware there was a forecast for them. Every day’s a school day.
An Historic Setting for a Stellar Display
On Monday night at St. Aidan’s Church, I met another wise like-minded photographer @swynnphotography who suggested we head to the Tithe Barn in Swinburne.
Set in the middle of nowhere atop a small ridge, much like St. Aidan’s Church, this 18th century barn packs a ton of history and character into such a compact little building and provided the perfect foreground for the night to come.
With major aurora alerts starting to come through, and aware the last time this happened the aurora could be seen even before twilight set in, I made sure to arrive at the barn before sundown. This gave me time to have a scout around first and pick out the best compositions as the sky mercifully cleared of all cloud. I didn’t want to miss a thing.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long after the sun had set that faint pink pillars could be seen standing tall in the sky against the blue hour. Even to the naked eye they could be seen to slowly shimmer and shift, even despite the half moonlight.
As darkness descended, the skies erupted. Whilst solar winds surged overhead, pillars of fire could be seen to set the sky alight as all manner of yellows, oranges, pinks and reds fought vibrantly and urgently against the swallowing darkness.
Washing across us in waves with ever increasing intensity, the display grew and grew, ebbing and flowing, sweeping from east to west and back again across the sky forcing me to constantly change position to keep up.
The fading orange glow from the moon sinking slowly and steadily into the horizon beautifully lit up the barn. Not that it was needed as the aurora was so strong that it lit up the landscape almost entirely, bathing it in a livid shade of green. It was so bright in fact that I could keep my ISO and shutter speed relatively low giving me pin sharp noise-free images. All of these images taken at the tithe barn were shot with an ISO of 800 with a shutter speed of just 5 seconds. Compare that to my usual setting of between 1600 - 2400 for 10 seconds. Any more than that and the colours risked being blown out. It was insane how bright this display was.
As midnight approached and the dew turned to frost, the display ebbed again for what felt like might be the final time of the evening. Having shot the Tithe Barn from every possible angle (even facing south) I decided I would relocate the short distance to the windfarm at Sweethope again to see if I could catch better composed shots than the ones I caught the previous year.
On the short distance there it quickly became apparent that, what I thought might be the final ebb, was simply a prolonged recovery phase as the substorm strength plummeted like a stone, reaching values in excess of negative 1400nT.
A Celestial Explosion at Sweethope Loughs
The resulting expansion was something I wonder if I’ll ever see again. What I can only describe as being stood alone in a cage of fire literally raged all around me. Beginning as clusters of bright green pillars and spires, they congregated overhead in a startling, riotous corona. The corona of May’s display consisted of muted greens and purples. This was a celestial explosion. A glistening divine firework. I didn’t know where to point my camera. I just stood there and laughed.
Looking Forward to More Aurora Chasing
With the thrill of pursuing aurora displays now firmly entrenched in me, I look forward to the possibility over the next year or so of similar displays. This was a G4 level storm. And, akin to the elusive EF5 tornado, I wonder if I’ll ever witness a G5 level aurora. Given this experience, I can’t imagine what a G5 would be like. Either way, even weaker displays possess an endless appeal as, like chasing storms, every display is different, exhibiting different structures and colours. Its now a case of what do I do with them.
Medieval churches, stone monuments, ancient man made structures; a common theme has grown through my astro photography - the juxtaposition between the ancient and the truly timeless. Man’s corrodible follies against an eternal agency of apathy, humanity's fleeting creations against the enduring majesty of the cosmos.
That and reflections. Reflections are always good.
If you found the images on this page to your liking, then be sure to check out my Astro Photography Gallery for more photos from previous aurora displays.
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