Aurora Borealis
Taken by Heiko Ulbricht on November 20, 2003 @
Landberg hill, Saxony, Germany
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11/20/2003 – today 20 years ago...
Extreme Aurora borealis over Saxony and Central Europe...
By far the strongest aurora of the 23rd solar cycle at that time occurred 20 years ago on November 20th, 2003 over Saxony and Europe. 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 I could already see the extreme brightening of the northern sky! Grabbed the camera and drove to the Landberg hill (426 m), 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 west and south! In the photos you can see prominent constellations that allow you to estimate what was going on in the sky back then, today 20 years ago.
The shock front(s) were so strong, that already in the morning of 20.11. around 08:28 CET the first shockfronts on SOHO and ACE sats were registered. According to reports, the sky was already glowing at dusk! The inflow of charged particles continued during the day on November 20, 2003 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.
PRAKTICA MTL 5B + Pentacon 1.8/50, ca. 40-60s exposure, KODAK EKTAR 200 negative film
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