Yet another in a series of strong geomagnetic storms occurred on the overnight hours of October 10-11, 2024 that was visible in the middle latitudes of the United States and even as far south as AZ and TX. In actuality the display had been raging on for most of the daytime hours, but of course only visible on the dark side of the Earth.  But even our nighttime display was long lived and became visible shortly after sunset and lasted until well after midnight.  Large red patches of aurora were visible nearly overhead while the sky was still blue right after sunset and red patches stretched from the western to eastern horizon! Once again luck prevailed as we had exceptionally clear skies and even a waning first quarter moon did little to spoil the show. I had three locations in mind with good views to the north and had ample time to utilize each one of them.

The show to my north was rather weak at my first location, but the display overhead and to the east and west was bright and colorful.  My second location revealed the aurora oval quite well as it slowly moved from east to west and eventually directly overhead where it dissipated.  The main show came at my third location when things really pulsed with vivid colors and pillars dominating the northern sky!  It was at this time that the Kp Index registered 8.33kp with a Hemispheric Power exceeding 300Ghz!

Once again I used my Canon R6 Mark II mounted with a Canon RF15-35mm f2.8L wide angle lens.  Since the display was rather active I opted for short exposures between 2.5 & 6 seconds at ISO3200...mostly at f2.8 & f4.0 aperture.  

Below are just a few of the dozens of images I took during this event. All images were taken from the countryside of northern Berks County about 20 miles north of Reading, Pennsylvania

7:41pm EDT: This was one of the first images I took while looking nearly overhead and to the east!  The display to the north was more muted at this early stage of the event. 

8:27pm EDT: 45 minutes later the display to the north was still rather subdued, but some pillars were becoming evident.

8:52pm EDT: This one is from my second location as the display continues to brighten.  Pillars of colorful light are becoming more pronounced and the aurora oval is starting to take shape just above the horizon.  Notice the moon shadow spilling across the cornfield on the left side of the photo.

9:05pm EDT: This one is a 2 shot stitched together panoramic image of the well defined aurora oval as it begins its southward movement in my direction.  This is the first time I was able to capture such a fine look at the aurora oval!  You are looking directly north towards the Pennsylvania Blue Mountains in the distance.

9:15pm EDT: This view is looking towards the northwest at the western (leading) edge of the aurora oval with a red pillar on it's western flank.  Notice a red aurora patch extends well into the western sky.

9:58pm EDT: I am now at my final location looking north.  On this image you can still see the western edge of the aurora oval and that red pillar is till visible nearly 45 minutes later.

10:10pm EDT: What a difference 12 minutes can make!  The sky suddenly pulsed with vivid bright aurora filling the northern sky and from horizon to nearly overhead!

10:10pm EDT: Here is a two shot wide angle panoramic image taken at the same time as the previous image showing the full west to east extent of the aurora display.

10:13pm EDT: Three minutes later I took this colorful view of the eastern edge of the northern lights display during the peak of the activity.

10:15pm EDT: A couple minutes later I took in this view looking towards the western edge of the colorful display.

10:20pm EDT:  A short time later the sky was still filled with color, but not near as vivid as previous displays.

10:25pm EDT: Another pulse of color 5 minutes later with a little better defined vertical pillars.  Shortly after this photo was taken the show subsided and was mostly uninteresting for the next two hours.

12:28am EDT:  One last flare up occurred after midnight.  I took a few photos similar to this one and then the show really went downhill.  I stuck it out for another hour or so but it became apparent the nearly 5 hour display had come to an end.