On Sunday, you may have seen the WTOP story about the possibility of seeing aurora (also known as Northern Lights) in the D.C. region.
Luckily, last night I was at Shenandoah National Park’s Skyland to close out my ninth season of “Let’s Talk About Space.” More than 100 guests heard about the James Webb Space Telescope.
Afterward, we went out into a clearing to look for aurora and Taurid fireballs. We saw one Taurid — which got a lot of “oh’s” and “wow’s” — and some guests were able to photograph red and green colors in the sky with their smartphones. We could not see these colors with our eyes, as they are not adept at doing so due to the wavelengths of light involved.
I was able to use my iPhone and Nikon camera to photograph the sky, as it was clear with no smoke from the ongoing fire. In processing my images today, I realized that what we were seeing last night was in fact not an aurora, but a space weather phenomenon called a Stable Aurora Red (SAR) Arc. I realized what it was when I combined two of my pictures into a composite, which showed the stunning arc.
This was the first time I have imaged a SAR Arc, although I have imaged the rare Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) at sea, which the SAR Arc has been seen to transition into.
It does not appear that the D.C. area will be treated to a similar night tonight, but we can count on having more in the months ahead.
We’ll let you know when it happens.
Follow my daily blog to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration. You can email me at skyguyinva@gmail.com.
