20/01/2026
I had been contemplating whether I share these images since last night, decided that I wasn't going to, but then decided that yesterday's aura (not aurora) was too crazy not to! Almost unbelievable:
The morning started beautifully foggy, the afternoon turned gloriously sunny, then what was predicted to be "heightened solar activity" turned into a full blown CME G4 status geomagnetic storm - resulting in the aurora borealis/Northern Lights being visible nationwide, where lack of cloud cover permitted. Of course I don't need to tell anyone this, as a majority of the country's population captured this magical night sky on their phones or cameras. It was quite reminiscent of the solar storm of May 2024, and although that was G5 rated in magnitude, I actually felt that last night had stronger sightings nationwide, especially to the naked eye. I am waiting to hear confirmation on this but the Glendale App which measures geomagnetic activity has indeed recorded last night at the highest statistical data on the app's record...
I think the reason I didn't feel like sharing is because as a photographer, I like a challenge, and when it is so easy to walk out your front door and click your phone or even capture something so magnificent from your bedroom window, sometimes it really zaps the fun out of the creative process. I used to dream of expeditions to the arctic circle in chase of this almost unattainable aurora - on many occasions I chased it and the fact it remained so elusive made the dream even more special! But now twice in two years, to be able to catch it above my own hometown, it feels surreal, overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time.
One final note to anyone who isn't familiar with astrophotography or whom may have missed the aurora? I often get questions like; is it visible to the naked eye? Or how come it doesn't look like that on my phone? The truth is the sensor inside a camera is not same as our eyes and everytime you click that button the software inside your device is heavily processing the vision you have captured. This is why each and every take looks so different - colour, saturation, contrast, hues, shadows etc.
Hence why I never edit my images, because they are already, automatically less "natural" than I'd like. However I'll always do my best to keep them as organic as possible. And if I had the time to try and capture the aurora on film, I totally would, but unfortunately this is the digital age. I guess it has it's blessing and curse..
Anyway 😅
Enjoy 💫 (even if you've "seen it all before" by now)
Instagram.com/moordoormedia
Shot on Samsung S23 Ultra (unedited 😼)
