Northern lights over Central Europe on October 10, 2024

Article compiled by Werner Wöhrmann and Dr. Gerold Holtkamp

The sun has reached its maximum in its eleven-year activity cycle. For the third time this year, northern lights could be observed from Central Europe (see also reports here on kosmos-os.de). Solche Himmelslichter über Osnabrück zu sehen – und das drei Mal in einem Jahr – ist etwas ganz Besonderes!

On October 8, 24 at 1:56 a.m., the Soho solar satellite registered a strong coronal mass ejection on the Sun, caused by sunspot AR 3848. The ejection was aimed precisely at Earth and was responsible for the northern lights on October 10, 2024. The solar wind reached speeds of up to 800 km/s. That spoke for its strength. The solar particles reached Earth at around 5:30 p.m. There they reacted with the earth's atmosphere and we saw the beautiful northern lights at dusk.

Some members of kosmos-os were preparing for this event. The weather over the last few days didn't give much hope, but the weather forecast for Thursday looked good. That's how it was more or less. The sky was clear, the moon was in the south. Good conditions.

The locations were quite different. Werner close to Icker near Osnabrück had the darkest location, which is a big advantage when it comes to the northern lights. But it also should be tried in the urban locations of Friedrich in Georgsmarienhütte and Gerold in Osnabrück. Olaf, on holiday in England, was not in an urban location, but also not in a completely dark location.

Here is a short excursion into the personal experiences of some kosmos-os friends at the Northern Lights on October 10, 2024:

Northern lights over Icker

Werner Wöhrmann

At dusk on Thursday, October 10th, 2024, I set up my tripod with camera directly at my house near Icker. By 7:50 p.m. it was dark enough to begin. Soon the northern lights could also be seen with the naked eye. Not quite as colorful as in the camera display, but live.

A neighbor came over. He was amazed to see the result on the display. He wouldn't have noticed the change in color in the sky. There were sometimes more and sometimes fewer streamers to see. A greenish, a red to a violet color could be seen on the horizon. Around 11:30 p.m. my camera was showing less and less detail so I stopped even though the Northern Lights were still active. It wasn't as grandiose as in May this year, but it was definitely an astronomical experience to see such intense northern lights in our latitudes!

The solar storm was active all night and also on Friday. Unfortunately not until the evening. So I couldn't see the northern lights on Friday evening.

Data: Camera EOS 600D, focal length 20mm, aperture 5, ISO 1600, exposure for 8 seconds

Video from 57 individual recordings

Northern lights over Grange-over-Sands, England

Olaf Homeier

I experienced the event at the Meathop Fell campsite near Grange-over-Sands. This is in the west of England, south of the Lake District at the mouth of the River Kent. Since camping life is very relaxing, I almost missed the Northern Lights. I came across the upcoming Northern Lights probability because in the kosmos-os WhatsApp group and on the Darkmatters-Discord there was general excitement. Otherwise I probably would have missed it.

On the pictures from my AllSky camera (located in Pye, Osnabrück) you can clearly see the diversity on October 10th. Northern lights haunted the night, even though the cloud cover and weather conditions were definitely not the best.

You can clearly see from the Keogram that the Northern Lights kept appearing throughout the night. The keogram was created from individual images from the Allsky camera taken during the night. The same narrow vertical image sections from the original images are inserted into the keogram from left to right. This creates a time series from which what happened during the night can be seen at a glance.

The individual shots were taken with the Nikon Z8, 28-75mm zoom lens to 28mm, aperture 2.8, ISO3200, time usually 2 seconds.

Time-lapse video (60s single exposure each) of my AllSky camera in Pye, Osnabrück from 7:05 p.m. 10/10/24 to 6:56 a.m. 11/10/24

Northern lights over Georgsmarienhütte

Dr. Friedrich Ferié

October 10, 2024, a Thursday, was actually normal until then. I had just digested the beautiful and educational photos and travel reports from the Effelsberg radio telescope from the kosmos-os tour group, as well as the images of the Sadr region in the constellation Cygnus. Already on October 2nd, 2024 there was an announcement from Achim about the appearance of an increased CME. Until now, for me, CME meant learning for continuing education credits in medicine. On October 3rd, Gerold gave me hope with fascinating photos from Iceland of the northern lights. The kosmos-os tour group provided excellent images of the Northern Lights near Reykjavik. In return I sent an “Oh my God, thank you to the hardworking group.” On Saturday, October 5th, 2024, I dreamed in colors at night under the constellation Swan: Oh, if only I could see such a sight once in my life...

On October 10th, THE Thursday, Achim wrote at 12:30 p.m.: The "Sternstunden" on Saturday were officially canceled. Clouds obscured the view. I had to sigh intensely, again nothing.... Gerold understood my sadness and wrote something comforting. Tomorrow!!!

At 6:22 p.m. a sudden start at information from Thomas: A CME with dream values ​​is coming. I was discreet, yet clearly electrified. Especially when Werner reported visually noticeable northern lights at 8:44 p.m. He then immediately sent a photo from his camera at 8:50 p.m., a play of colors from dark red to light orange. At 8:57 p.m. Thomas sees red streamers, how do they do that? I'm getting antsy. Events come to a head, Bernd sends photos from the balcony of Westerberg and Gerold from Sonnenhügel.

I also have a south-facing balcony and an additional tilt window. The keyword balcony suddenly ends my childhood dreams, abruptly and finally. The iPhone 12 Max Pro cell phone is screwed onto a wooden board using a clamp with an aluminum tube. aligned under the northern hinged window. My wife Anne pays attention to the tilting window and the exposure time of 5 seconds: I really see red like Thomas! My God, the construction crane also has to be included in the picture as proof of reality. Nobody else believes that. The cell phone camera is running to take photos. I finally have my Northern Lights photo and that too in Georgsmarienhütte, where something like that never happens.

Thank you community kosmos-os! Otherwise I would have continued dreaming.

Northern lights over the Sonnenhügel in Osnabrück

Dr. Gerold Holtkamp

I hadn't paid much attention to it myself, but Werner reported that the Northern Lights were "coming soon" and that the weather was promising. So I was motivated. But I didn't have enough energy to drive all the way to Icker. So that evening after dark I set up the tripod and camera in my own garden. The view to the north, especially to the horizon, is not completely clear, but perhaps the northern lights - if they came - would gain enough height...

They came! It was actually high enough that I could see it clearly between the church tower and the trees. An absolute first for me to observe the northern lights from home!

View to the north, video from 176 individual shots
Camera Canon 6D, ISO3200, 14mm, F2.8, 2s