Great Aurora borealis over Saxony
Taken by Heiko Ulbricht on November 20, 2003 @
Landberg hill, near Freital, Saxony, Germany
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11/20/2003 – today 19 years ago...
Great Aurora borealis over Saxony!
By far the strongest aurora of the 23rd solar cycle at that time occurred 19 years ago on November 20th, 2003 over Saxony. At that time the cause was "only" an M4.5 flare on the sun, but due to the complex physics behind the shock front(s), it was so intense that the end of the aurora oval was somewhere over Italy! There were sightings up to the Turkish Riviera and on Tenerife! Over Europe and the western United States, the Aurora Oval reached its maximum southern extent between 21:00 and 23:00 UTC.
I will never forget coming out of the sauna that evening. In the middle of the city of Freital I could already see the extreme brightening of the northern sky! Grabbed the camera and drove to the Landberg hill, 17 km southwest of Dresden. The show was great! You could even look south and the sky was red. The oval started far to the northeast, stretching north to west and south! Actually all around. In the photos you can see prominent constellations that allow you to estimate what was going on in the sky back then, today 19 years ago. This event was therefore be the most southerly observable aurora borealis in the 23rd solar cycle at that time. The variety of structures and shapes was unique.
The shock front(s) were so strong, that already in the morning of 20.11.2003 around 08:28 CET the first shock fronts hits SOHO and ACE and earth's magnetic field. According to reports, the sky was already glowing in the bright evening twilight! The inflow of charged particles continued during the day on November 20th and was still strong enough in the evening to make these images possible. Until today I have not seen such a strong Aurora here again.
KP-Index: 9- (G4 Storm)
DST-Index: -422 nT
Bz-Wert: -53.1 nT
PRAKTICA MTL 5B + Pentacon 1.8/50, ca. 40-60s exposure, KODAK EKTAR 200 negative film
Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
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