Nature Aurora observed in Hokkaido following three days of solar flares

On Saturday night, the skies of Hokkaido were illuminated by auroras, a spectacle typically confined to the polar regions but made visible at lower latitudes due to intense geomagnetic storms triggered by a series of solar flares on the sun's surface. According to Ryuho Kataoka, an associate professor at the National Institute of Polar Research, the frequent occurrence of these flares in quick succession likely facilitated the geomagnetic disturbances, thereby enhancing the conditions for aurora observation.

The northern lights were also visible from the Noto Peninsula, which was hit by a major earthquake on New Year's Day. Takuya Usami, 37, a curator at the Mantenboshi observatory in the Ishikawa Prefecture town of Noto, photographed the aurora with a digital SLR camera, though to the naked eye, it looked like a normal night sky. It was apparently the first time since 2003 the facility had observed an aurora. "We were finally able to capture a low-latitude aurora," Usami said.

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I didn't see them myself, as I was in bed when they showed up, but Chicago had them for the last three nights as well (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) which is extremely rare.

I slept through it on Friday, which was apparently the best time to view them here. Last night they were supposedly back but not quite as bright so we tried to go just out of town to see them, couldn't see anything, then got stuck in traffic for nearly an hour coming back due to roadwork.

So this is our aurora photo

nice gaijin said:

I slept through it on Friday, which was apparently the best time to view them here. Last night they were supposedly back but not quite as bright so we tried to go just out of town to see them, couldn't see anything, then got stuck in traffic for nearly an hour coming back due to roadwork. So this is our aurora photo.

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Aurora viarum. Highway aurora.