On May 10th, we received a special Mother’s Day weekend gift in the form of the strongest Geomagnetic storm in over two decades. This G5 storm provided much of the US with views of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). 

The evening started with no plans to go out, but then while catching a show on TV, I received a text from my mom asking if I could see them with a backyard cell phone photo of what she saw in Nashville. “Well shoot, if she can see them in her metro area backyard, then I would think I could see something myself.”

So I headed out to Red Rocks, a close but semi-light sheltered location. And…. was so disappointed (Photo 1 below), I was about to head home. On the way out of Red Rocks I began to think, “You know, things seemed a little more Northern Light-ish to the west, what if I try to hit a spot on the other side of the ridge?” So I setup by Dinosaur Ridge and is was spectacular! 

A little nerd science… The different colors of the Northern Lights vary from the gas particles in the air. Green is when charged particles collide with oxygen at lower altitudes. Red is with oxygen at higher altitudes. Blue/Purple is with Nitrogen. Yellow/Pink and where they simply overlap.