Last Night's Aurora Arrived Early, Tonight's the "Big" Night
Meagan Fitzgerald of Silver Bay, Minn. photographed a friend enjoying Sunday night's northern lights display from Caribou Lake in northern Minnesota. Fitzgerald observed the lights from 10:40 p.m. to 1:05 a.m. Monday morning. Meagan Fitzgerald Well, yes, we did have aurora last night, but moonlight and clouds made it tricky to see. I suspected a diffuse glow low in the northern sky around 10:45 p.m. (CDT). Unfortunately, a distant bank of clouds masked the bottom 10° of the north, where you'd typically see the auroral arc. Without that arc and visible rays I couldn't confirm my sighting. Meagan Fitzgerald did a whole lot better! This chart shows the Kp index , an indicator of potential auroral activity. Kp 5 equals a G1 minor storm; Kp 6 = a G2 storm. The strongest storming yesterday happened during the afternoon U.S. time (great for Europe), with a G1 storm (Kp 5) continuing through about 1 a.m. CDT. NOAA I set the alarm for 3 and 4:45 this morning for another look. Cloud