From dusk till dawn with all-sky camera in Italy observing exceptional auroral activity in 4K
Image credit: Virtual Telescope Project (stillshot)
Thanks to Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project, we have an exceptional video showcasing auroral activity from May 10 and 11, 2024, during a G5 – Extreme geomagnetic storm.
The video captures the entire night, from sunset to dawn, and the whole sky, using an all-sky camera at the Virtual Telescope Project facility in Manciano, Italy (lat.: +42.5 deg.), under some of the darkest skies in the Italian peninsula.
Aurora sightings were widespread in both hemispheres on May 11, reaching as far south as Florida, U.S., and the Mediterranean Sea in Europe. One of the first remarkable images came from New Zealand and Tasmania, described as ‘absolutely biblical.’
Absolutely biblical skies in Tasmania at 4am this morning. I’m leaving today and knew I could not pass up this opportunity for such a large solar storm. Here’s the image. I actually had to de-saturate the colours. Clouds glowing red. Insane. Shot on Nikon. Rt appreciated pic.twitter.com/210hlkmoeg
— Sean O' Riordan (@seanorphoto) May 10, 2024
The last time Earth had a G5 – Extreme geomagnetic storm was in October 2003 — dubbed the Halloween Storms of 2003. These storms resulted in power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa. Surprisingly, they occurred 2 to 3 years after solar maximum.
The storms included the largest solar flare ever recorded by the GOES system, which was initially estimated as X28 but later modeled as strong as X45 due to the saturation of the GOES detectors.
The solar activity caused a temporary failure of the SOHO satellite and damaged the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE). Several other spacecraft experienced issues or downtime, with some intentionally placed in safe mode to protect sensitive equipment.
This time, NOAA reported some minor power grid irregularities and impacts on high-frequency communications and GPS, while Elon Musk reported his Starlink satellites are ‘under a lot of pressure but holding up so far.’
Major geomagnetic solar storm happening right now. Biggest in a long time. Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far. pic.twitter.com/TrEv5Acli2
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2024
Here are some more visuals of the aurora show on May 11. It was truly spectacular and captured the attention of people around the world.
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
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