The Northern lights of 21 januari 2005

19-01-2005: X-FLARE! Giant sunspot 720 unleashed another X-class solar flare this morning. The explosion did propel a coronal mass ejection into space--but not toward Earth. 20-01-2005: BIG BANG! Giant sunspot 720 erupted again today (Jan. 20th at 0700 GMT), unleashing a powerful X7-class solar flare. The blast hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space and sparked the strongest radiation storm since October 1989. 21-01-2005 17:00 UT : IMPACT! A coronal mass ejection swept past Earth earlier today and sparked a severe geomagnetic storm. Sky watchers across northern Europe spotted bright and colorful auroras. The storm is subsiding now, but it still has the potential to produce auroras tonight over northern US states like Maine and Minnesota Northern lights on 21 januari 2005 On the evening of 21 januari I received some email alerts about the possibility of aurora (northern lights) visible from the Netherlands. But the weather wasn’t cooperative: heavy rain and hailshowers were blocking a good view on the heavens. Finaly some small spells were visible in northern direction. Almost immediately I noticed the sky is somewhat red, but at that time my eye’s are not adapted to the dark yet. With my Canon 10D and a Canon EF 2.8/15 mm fish eye lens I took a picture around 19:04 UT: clearly visible behind the clouds: aurora! Unfortunately, after this picture clouds moved in. But after ten minutes again some clear spells. I took off to the Groevenbeekse Heide (a moor) near Ermelo. In total I biked three times to the moor. The best pictures I shot that night are presented in this gallery. All pictures are taken with a Canon 10D camera and a Canon EF 2.8/15 mm fish eye lens. some pictures are placed twice. I have de-fished some pictures and added these pictures after the original ones.