Coronal Hole Aurora

From the photographer: “Seated above a large reservoir, Ticetonyk and Little Tonche Mountains can be seen in the center of the image, populated with lights from the local homes. Both above and below the mountains are the large colorful aurora pillars and their reflections on the water. With the 16mm focal length, the upper half of the photograph contains immense, brilliant stars and the brief traces of a Stable Auroral Arc (SAR), as seen in a broad, dim red color. Also present and located beneath Polaris are proton auroras, present as disperse green aurora, situated above and through the pillars.

A large coronal hole in the sun, resulted in a surprise G3 Geomagnetic storm on Sunday night. There has been recent confirmation of increased solar activity, indicating that auroras could be becoming more prevalent, and I can personally attest to it with this image. An alert right before going to bed and I was out the door to the Ashokan Reservoir promenade. I waited about half an hour and during my timelapse the aurora pillars arrived, as I was alone to witness for 3 minutes.

The image contains the Northern view from the Pan Handle of the promenade.”

Technical details:
Sony A7Rii, Viltrox 16mm F1.8 at F2.0, ISO6400
Single 8 second exposure