Auroras Over Halling...

Just before midnight, the skies were lit by the brightest show of the Aurora Borealis that I personally have ever seen.  I rushed to grab a camera and managed to catch a few shots before they faded...

View north from my back garden, about 11pm

I had managed to photograph some aurorae back in May, but these were much brighter and I rather overexposed the shot. Rays of red light could be seen gently undulating, something I'd never seen before...

View north-east, about 11.30...

The bright show faded quite quickly. This picture shows the fading aurora against the background constellations of Auriga and Perseus. The Pleiades can be seen to the right...

Leicester University put their magnetometer readings online, giving some advance warning of auroral displays. This is the plot for the night of October 10/11th. It can be seen the auroras were on display all night, although they faded quite a bit after midnight.

The Sun's 13 year sun-spot cycle is now close to its maximum and sun-spot activity is expected to cause more bright auroras that can hopefully be seen from the south of England.