I can't believe I just saw this

I was out from sunset to sunrise here in SE Minnesota. They were out as soon as the sun was down. It started with blue hour aurora that was visible to the eye, and ebbed and flowed all night. I could still see it when I moved to another location and was watching it out my window. It was the coolest thing I've ever been able to witness and capture. I'm so glad you got to see them, too.

Knowing your gear is essential (especially in the dark). Due to an important birthday celebration, I got a late start on Friday night for the show. And in I’m my excitement I grabbed my 5D IV instead of my R5. While it was a major pain to not have an articulating screen, and live view to focus, I was up and running in just a few minutes because I know the camera inside and out. I didn’t go far because I know how quickly the Aurora can go away. So I just went a couple miles north by a lake. I was less than 10 miles from downtown Minneapolis and I was blown away! Light pollution everywhere and you could see the Aurora even to the south OVER the Twin Cities! Freaking awesome! I do have one tip for photographing the Aurora. When they are “dancing” across the sky, a shorter shutter speed of say 3-4 seconds, will allow you to capture more definition in the Aurora’s light pillars. If the show goes for a while, try different shutter speeds and ISO’s and see what you get. So glad that so many of us got to see that amazing show! We’re still in an active time period for the sun, hopefully we’ll get another crack at in the coming months!

Am I the ONLY person in North America who DIDN'T see the aurora??? 😒

I remember a few years ago you posted a video on how to capture the Milky Way with a mobile phone. I still remember it very well. I tried the same and it worked. Now everyone is talking about the pink aurora caused by solar storms these days, so I thought you would make a video. So here it is. Thanks for sharing such a beautiful event. I live in an equatorial country so we never see any kind of aurora. It's beautiful

I'm near Salt Lake City, we went out to the desert to see the Aurora. Last second I grabbed my camera, couldn't my Pentax 10-17 zoom and ran back in the house for a tripod. Forgot my remote, but used the the self timer. What an amazing night, and I'll gush, that it was amazing to share this experience with my girlfriend (an incredible human being!). In post, it was super easy to over do things. Used my Pentax K3 mark ii, Tamron 17-50 f2.8. I shot mainly at ISO 400 and wide open, times ranged from 3 to 20 seconds. Longer exposures where I used painted light (my phone flashlight app) to lightly illuminate my Jeep in the desert, and the Aurora as the backdrop. The next night, was horribly crowded, no magic, I didn't even set out my camera.

I'm glad you were able to see it and share it with us. Thank you. It would have been nice to see the total eclipse and the aurora in less than two months. However, every opportunity here in Texas was cloudy (at 32ºN), so no luck.

First time seeing the aurora, and can’t believe it was in Colorado! After seeing a glimpse of it at home in Denver, snap decision to head east to darker skies, and WOW! Pretty wild seeing so many other cars at random pullouts and parked off side of the road to view it. Captured it with my R6 and 14-35.

I photographed and did an in camera TL from bortle 9 Milwaukee. At 10 thru 11:30 PM we had a thunderstorm. sky cleared by 1AM and was treated to this amazing experience. What you said about knowing your gear. A subtle balance to catch the aurora without the LP washing everything out. And I had to remember how to use the in camera TIMELAPSE. What a high. I also used my Seestsr to capture the huge solar prominence that caused all this. How kool 😊

Here, 51.45 degrees North in Reading, they were naked eye visible, despite massive light pollution. The Sigma 40mm 1.4 came in handy…

I've been on vacation and live just west of Phoenix Arizona and really didn't give this much thought thinking it wouldn't be visible here. Boy was I wrong and missed the opportunity of a lifetime. So many people from around here posted their pictures and I'm like 😡😡😡😡😡😡😍🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕 So mad at myself 😭

Here in Mexico there are photos taken from Yucatan and middle states like Puebla and Jalisco and obviously from the northern states like Sonora and Chihuahua.

In the southern hemisphere, I have seen images from trusted photographers who live in Townsville, Australia (19.25 degrees south) and also Mackay (21.1 deg south). I've never known the aurora to be visible at those latitudes. Unfortunately, where we live in Sydney (34 deg south) we were clouded out everywhere within a 300-mile radius.

I completely missed it on Friday night, but I did get out last night and got some photos. I'm in Kennebunk, Maine and it was barely visible to the naked eye last night. I can only imagine what it must have been like Friday night after all the photos I've seen. Not sure if we'll get another chance tonight or not, as the clouds may interfere. But, so amazing that so many folks around the world got to see it. Your timelapse was great! I need to try that myself. Thanks for the video. Hope you have a great trip. :) Paula

So glad you got to experience this Brent and everyone else that never sees this. One spectacular event and beautiful to see. Thanks for sharing Brent.

It's not so much you shouldn't be seeing it at that latitude, it's the rarity of seeing it at that latitude.

I am so glad you got to see the Auroras so well! Your photos were excellent. I have seen photos from as far south as the Florida Keys. Here in Pennsylvania where I am, it was totally cloudy both days. There were some recent Auroras that did not reach our area, but, and I did not realize at the time, the cameras did pick up color that was not visible to our eyes. So I will be ready should the Auroras get even close.

I had such a similar experience at 38 degrees north latitude with the whole thinking there was no way I'd ever see an aurora here, seeing posts on social media, taking a test shot in my front yard, and then scrambling to get to darker skies half an hour away to take some real photos! I've been taking night sky images for a few years but have only recently gotten into timelapses, and that really came in handy! I knew exactly what settings to start with and how to set up my intervalometer. I was just telling my son that if it weren't for all of the practice I've gotten lately, I don't think I would have been able to pull off shooting this event in the way that I did! I got a few print-worthy stills and a beautiful timelapse video out of this once-in-a-lifetime moment!

Not too often you can see auroras in SE Nebraska even so, you need the camera to even see them. This event I posted to the local FB phptp group of 50K members mid-day, and the post went crazy, course I had to work 2-10:30, but took off at 8:30pm and managed to get out by 10pm in the field. Enjoyed it with my son, he had enough by 1am lol, went back out till 3am after dropping him off and that was when I could actually see the light pillars in the area. R6MII did well, I didn't even think about doing a time lapse as I should of and tried with the GOpro11 after realizing I had it with me but failed. Should have used my R50 for a TL as I did have a 2nd tripod but my RF16mm was on the MII and the F4 14-35 wasn't doing the best so only option would have been the RF50mm which not a fan of for wide shots like this event. Your TL was stunning!! Glad you got to see it.

My first time seeing the northern lights was nearly 35 years ago. My second time was Friday night. I got quite a few images and am certainly excited about them, including a very short time lapse. I was using 15 second exposures and getting decent results without needing to bump my ISO too high, was at 400 and shooting at f/4, due to the lack of a considerably faster lens. I shot with a daylight WB, and I'm still not sure what is best, but I'm leaning toward 4000K.

I missed it due to clouds, went out the night after, it only got me a busted shoulder and a bleeding leg from taking a fall in the forest... but nooo, I'm not bitter... 😂