Dr. Gerold Holtkamp, May 10/11, 2024 and May 11/12, 2024
In recent years I have experienced a number of northern lights on my trips to the Arctic Circle*. However, when the first warning messages from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) arrived by email on May 9th, announcing a Kp value of 8 for May 11th and 12th, I knew that something special was coming. Northern lights over the Osnabrück region. I had never experienced that before!
However, nothing is certain when “hunting” for the Northern Lights. Is the prediction correct? When exactly will the solar storm arrive? And last but not least: Will the sky be clear? So the excited anticipation grew day by day. NOAA seemed to become more certain with each passing day and the weather forecasts maintained that at least the first half of the night would be clear.
Since northern lights are usually not very bright phenomena in the sky, I knew that I had to escape the city of Osnabrück and its dome of light. So I asked my kosmos-os friend Werner Wöhrmann if we wanted to go hunting together. Werner lives in the countryside near Icker, a small town close to Osnabrück. It's dark there, definitely much darker than in Osnabrück. Werner immediately agreed.
So I showed up at Werner's on May 10th at 9 p.m. The sun had just set, but in my experience you should start looking for the Northern Lights early so you don't miss anything. From 9:30 p.m. we were outside and searched the northern sky with our cameras because they are better at distinguishing between faint colors.
And the show began! Green and also violet structures soon appeared on the cameras, which were clearly auroras. On a warm spring night (without freezing your feet like at the Arctic Circle) and in the sky over home! Great! Just unbelievable! We were thrilled!
The show went on, ever further, ever more colorful! The experience can hardly be described in words. The following recordings and videos capture the impression of the night. Unfortunately, they fall far short of the direct experience of this natural spectacle. But still: for us they are vivid memories.
P.S.
On the night of May 11/12, 2024, Werner and I were outside again, this time in an open field near Lechtingen near Osnabrück. Strong northern lights were also forecast for this night. However, there was only a short display. But at least we had a few hours under a beautiful starry sky with the ISS and some bright meteors.
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*
Reports about my trips to the Northern Lights:
Am Polarkreis tanzt das Nordlicht – Startseite (kosmos-os.de)
Polarlicht über Island – Startseite (kosmos-os.de)
Grünes Meer am Polarkreis – Startseite (kosmos-os.de)
