May 10-11 Geo-Magnetic Storm Was Extensive, But Visually Limited

 

The Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) that arrived over Iowa on Friday night, May 10, 2024 had great visual potential, and at times was rated G5 and reached as far south as Mexico. Despite this however, the visual results fell short of a comparable event that occurred here on April 23, 2023. These images were captured as long exposures (6-10 seconds), contain some enhancements in post-processing, and because of that appear brighter and more vivid than with the naked eye. Images were captured looking north from Radio Road, about .3-mile east of Highway 13, just northeast of Marion, Iowa. The image above was captured at 10:00 pm CDT, Friday, May 10, and is an 8 second exposure at f/4, ISO 800, 24mm focal length.

10:06 pm. Panoramic image. 5-image stitch, each image 6 second exposure at f/4, ISO 1000, 24mm focal length. The moon is seen at far left.

10:07 pm. Similar image to top photo. 6 second exposure at f/4, ISO 1000, 24mm focal length.

Polar view for 10:12 pm from Aurora Alerts app, with the red color showing very intense activity.

12:07 am CDT, Saturday, May 11. Back at home and looking northeast from our back deck. Activity had decreased some, and the increased light pollution from the city made the aurora less discernible to the naked eye. 6 second exposure at f/4, ISO 1000, 24mm focal length.

12:09 am. Similar image. 10 second exposure at f/4, ISO 800, 24mm focal length. Nikon Z6ii camera.