Aurora 11 May 2024
I made it out to a dark spot in the west desert not long after sunset. After watching the moon set behind the Pilot Range, I saw the pink swash up in the sky and the camera revealed different shades of pink and purple. Incredible!
Look! Look at the aurora colors reflecting in the snow on Pilot Range! This photo was taken looking west. Leo will set soon. The Big Dipper is visible in the upper right.
It was about two hours after I saw pink in the sky that I, open-mouthed, saw the first pillars: these shafts of light that fade in, grow tall and pink, fade out. Others rise, then others, and eventually it'd quiet down, and then start up again maybe ten minutes later. This was taken looking a little west of north; see the big dipper vertical in the center. (The rest of these photos are a little out of focus--I was out of my mind with excitement!)
Eventually, the green aurora intensified and snaked above the horizon with pillars rising and fading above. The little dipper is on the left side of the photo.
For maybe twenty minutes some green color was visible above me and even behind me to the south!