It has been an incredible weekend for most people in the northern hemisphere. A strong geomagnetic storm made the aurora borealis visible to millions of people. The storms were so powerful that the lights were visible much further south than usual, with sightings in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal.
Photographers as far south as Madeira, Portugal, and all over Spain were surprised and delighted to capture what they viewed as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The images they shot are almost surreal, looking like a Photoshop sky replacement with iconic landscapes appearing with a backdrop more commonly associated with Iceland or Norway.
Aurora in Spain
Landscape photographer Pablo Ruiz Garcia (cover image) captured the aurora over the famous Cantabria coast at Los Urros de Liencres. It is a beautiful spot at the best of times, but seeing Pablo’s images makes it extraordinary.
©Pablo Ruiz Garcia
So why did the aurora appear pink in these extreme southern skies as opposed to the more usual green and blue hues? Apparently, it’s all to do with the strength of the solar flares and which part of the Earth’s atmosphere they hit.
This most recent geomagnetic storm is one of the largest in living memory. “In normal situations, auroras appear at an altitude ranging from 100 to 300 kilometres above the earth’s surface,” says Pablo.
“This distance allows oxygen particles to emit a green light as they interact with those in the solar wind. However, during the last solar storm, the distance was different, reaching below 100 kilometres. At that altitude, the atmosphere contains a higher amount of nitrogen. When the solar particles interact with the nitrogen, the nitrogen glows pink.”
©David de la Cruz
David de la Cruz was photographing the night sky near Tarragona on Spain’s East coast when he saw the pink glow and couldn’t believe what he saw. “It was a historic moment,” he says, adding that “the night of Friday, May 10, will be remembered for the rest of his life.”
His image is a spectacular wide-angle capture of the Milky Way mixed with the aurora, certainly something that would be difficult to replicate.
UK, France and Netherlands
Other images have taken on a decidedly strange feel, with the lights appearing over famous landmarks such as Mont Saint Michel in France, Stone Henge in the south of England, and providing a colourful backdrop for windmills in the Netherlands.
“Last Friday, I was able to take photos I only thought were possible in my dreams,” says Dutch photographer Albert Dros. “This is something you can normally only see within the polar circles. It was one of the most beautiful moments in my photographic career and absolutely unreal,” he adds.
©Albert Dros
Even those living further North had quite a surprise as the aurora sneaked up behind them, catching many a northward-gazing photographer out. “Usually, it’s north of us in winter months,” says Lyndsey Stanford from Moray, Scotland. “This one was unique as the doughnut was below, so all these were facing South or East, which threw a lot of people.” The ‘doughnut’ she’s referring to can be seen in her image below with dazzling brightness.
©Lyndsey Stanford
As far south as Madeira
Seeing all of his photographer friends beginning to post aurora images in impossibly southern locations, landscape photographer and educator Paco Farero was kicking himself for being on a trip to photograph the Portuguese island of Madeira.
Not expecting to see much of anything, Paco says he went outside to look for the aurora anyway, just in case. “I couldn’t just stay indoors and go to sleep, and I thought ‘What if it could be seen here?’”
His gamble paid off with some unmistakable pink in the sky over his images. Paco echoes the others’ sentiments by saying it was “something amazing that I think will only happen to me once in my life.”
©Paco Farero
At 32.7°N latitude, Madeira is possibly the most southern place in Europe to have experienced the aurora over the weekend. However, amazingly, people have also been posting images from Arizona and California in the USA. “Words can’t describe the emotions I felt last night,” said night sky photographer Casey Olson as she photographed the rare Arizona aurora.
©Casey Olson
FOMO and sadness
I saw absolutely nothing. The first I knew of the aurora was when my mum sent me photos directly from her iPhone that she had taken on the South coast of England. Unfortunately, I live in Spain’s third-largest city, which has a lot of light pollution.
My mum’s photo taken on her iPhone in southern England
The FOMO is massive. Luckily I have a trip to Iceland booked later this year so fingers crossed for more geomagnetic storms!
