This isn't something I was expecting to see in Snake Valley! The Great Basin area is relatively far south, so how in the world are we seeing northern lights?
Well, thanks to a solar maximum this year and several large CME's - coronal mass ejections -aimed towards the earth, we're being bombarded by solar stuff (I'm 100% sure that's the technical term) that makes for awesome skies, even in more southerly locales. We're located along the 39th parallel (the Equator is 0 and North Pole is +90), so that puts us more towards the south than the north (let me remember that come winter, lol). But with all the activity, northern lights appeared in May (which I missed due to traveling), and now they're back in October!
My friend Jenny and I had gone out two nights to try and see them over the weekend, but one night was a bust and the other night they were so dim that I didn't even post any of my photos. But on Monday night, 10/7/2024, she texted me to get my eyes outside. I boogied out, bring the whole family, and we were amazed! We could see some color with just our eyes (those naked eyes we're always hearing about!). And with a longer exposure, the colors really popped!
The kids responsibly went to bed a little after 8 pm, but I wanted to see more, so I jumped in the car and started driving around. Except the color had faded quite a bit. It was still a nice glow.
The pond was so serene with the glow over it.
I was getting tired, so I decided to pack it up. But as I was walking back to the car, I noticed the colors strengthening. Hooray! Here's the path to the aurora!
I'll just conclude by saying Welcome to Nevada. We have more color now!
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