This is a series of images showing the evolution of the aurora borealis (the Northern Lights) over about 90 minutes during the major storm of May 10/11, 2024.

These were with a circular fish-eye lens taking in most of the sky looking south at bottom and with the zenith overhead at centre. The Kp Index reached a high level of Kp8 (on a scale of 0 to 9) this night, bringing auroras to the southern U.S., a rare occurence. The series shows the explosion of colour and structure a couple of times during short-lived sub-storms, then the dying down of activity after about 1 am local time to a dimmer though still sky-filling display of pulsating rays. Clouds moving through did obscure the view somewhat. The pinks from nitrogen were particularly bright during this show. They may be mixed with reds from oxygen. The sequence starts with the aurora already well developed in the south, as before that the camera was aimed north. Then the aurora began to explode in the south, so I turned the camera 180° and re-started the sequence.

The time between these 48 images is usually 2 minutes, though to include the brief outburst at 1 a.m., the interval is 30 seconds or 1 minute for those few images.

Each is a 3- or 9-second exposure (I altered settings midway) taken as part of a time-lapse sequence using the 7.5mm TTArtisan lens at f/2 on the Canon R5 at ISO 800. Taken from home in southern Alberta, at latitude 51º N. The original image is 41,000 by 11,000 pixels.