Friday 10th May 2024 the World expreienced a powerful solar storm resulting in a strong Aurora visible all accross the globe. i happened to be in Wales when the red alerts began pouring in so i changed my plans and made my way to Penmon Point. Lots of others clearly had the same idea.
Lots of seasoned photographers and beginners alike with the more experienced gladly helping with focus and exposure settings.
Just after 10.30 the light dropped enough for us to see(by camera) a faint green glow in the north east. There was suddenly a lot more noise and lights. then shouts from around "please turn off your flashes and lights - they won't help" followed by lots of people exclaimng they don't know how to work their camera. One lady was holding her tripod above her head clearly having been told to put the camera on a tripod for better photos.
With the sun now well below the horizon and the ight levels dropping fast, things escalated quickly. Extreme alerts were now popping up on phones and as we asjusted our ISO to compensate for the dropping light there were more comments about "my picture is too dark"
11.08 and the sky exploded. Pillars visible to the naked eye with Pink and purple colours dancing above us
For the marvel fans among you it looked like Thor was arriving in llandudno.
Colour now filled the sky, the colour spreading all round. with most of us not looking directly up
I found myself looking south to find the sky still filled with colour. and looking like more beings from Asgard were landing
Green was now coming back into the sky dancing with the pink and moving north
What looked to be the peak of the storm over, we were all looking north again as what looked like a giant pink curtain with a green edging swirled around over sea.
I'll leave you with my final image of what wil be a night i'll remember for a very long time
Thanks for reading.
For notifications on when you might be able to see the Aurora, check out the Glendale App at https://aurora-alerts.uk/
This site is really the only accurate way to get notifications.