Last night we had a bit of a surprise appearance here in Northeast Ohio – the aurora borealis also known as the northern lights. They aren’t too common here but do appear in Ohio when the solar storms are really rolling. I’ve tried time and time again to capture them but usually I don’t have a lot of luck. I’m still kicking myself for staying at my hotel in 2013 when there was a storm when I was in Maine. My hair was wet, the pjs were on and I didn’t really have a clue where to go locally so I just stayed put. BIG MISTAKE! Last night there was another storm and this time I wasn’t staying home! I headed up to the Observatory Park in Geauga but by the time I got there (it’s an hour and a half from home) the storm had started to abate. There was still a faint green light off on the horizon so I took a few pictures before running back to the car as it was VERY cold and the wind was brutal.
If you are like me and love the northern lights or you just want to see them – keep an eye on this website. I’ve signed up for their alerts. Find your KP number (we are 7 here) and the forecasts are usually pretty on par. I’ve signed up for the notifications so when the KP numbers get to the point where I’ll see them here I get updates from the website. Last night the storm was up to 8.67KP before dying down to a 7.33KP by the time it was dark here and the ovation reached the US. When I reached the Observatory Park it was at 6.33KP so you can see it when it’s not quite at the KP you are located at but you need a dark sky (this website is what I use to figure out where to go away from light pollution) and a low view of the northern horizon.
I started the night out at West Branch State Park, hoping that it would have a good view and I wouldn’t have to go all of the way to the dark sky park. The light pollution on the map I posted above was promising and I knew it’d have a good view of the northern horizon so I headed here first.
As you can see below, while you could see some of the green color there was still a bit of light pollution on the horizon. I had a friend up at Observatory Park saying that it was wonderful there so after a couple test shots I packed it up and headed for the park.
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We ended up at Observatory Park just after midnight and it was my first visit and it was pretty neat. There was a couple other cars there but people appeared to be warming up as we didn’t see anyone out. The temperatures were cold but the wind was BRUTAL and I quickly understood why everyone was in their cars. Once you pass the shelters, this was the view towards the north. There was a bit of light pollution to the northwest (probably Cleveland).
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This image below was just on WEWS as I was typing this post! YAY! Thank you Mark Johnson!!
I took only a few shots since it was SO bitterly cold my lens kept fogging up, the wind was whipping the trees so everything was blurry in the long exposures needed to capture the color and it was getting pretty late. I refocused from the above framing and took some more centered on the north. This was the best (and the only one in focus) of the few of the due north photos and my favorite of the bunch despite the hill on the right of the image.
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While the storm didn’t quite live up to my hopes it was still better than nothing and definitely more exciting than we typically see here in Ohio so I’m not complaining. Here’s hoping for another solar storm soon that I can chase!!
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