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Summary: On April 15, 2002, twisted magnetic fields above sunspot 9906 erupted and hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) toward Earth. The expanding cloud reached our planet two days later and triggered a G2-class geomagnetic storm that raged for nearly 24 hours. Soon after the April 17th storm had subsided, a second CME struck Earth's magnetic field on April 19th. Like the one before it, this expanding cloud also came from sunspot 9906. The resulting geomagnetic storm lasted until mid-day (UT) on April 20th. |
| Photographer, Location | Images | Comments | |
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Dominic
Cantin, 35 km east of Quebec City at l'Ile d'Orléan
April 20 |
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, more | Photo details: 28 mm @ f 2.8, 25 sec, Kodak Supra 800. |
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Juha Kinnunen,
30 km west of Jyväskylä, Finland April 19 |
#1, #2, #3, #4, more | J. Kinnunen: "The blue and violet tones in image #3 originate from nitrogen atoms in an area still illuminated by the Sun. This is quite typical for early autumn and late spring auroras. " Photo details: Nikkor 28mm/f1.4 and Fuji Provia 400F. |
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Jeff
Conley, West Richland, Washington, USA April 19 |
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5 | Photo details: Canon EOS-3, Sigma 2.8, 28-70 zoom lens, Fuji Superia 400. All exposures 50-90 seconds with the lens at 2.8. |
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Tom Eklund,
Valkeakoski, Finland April 19 |
#1, #2, #3, more | Photo details: 28mm, f/2.0, 15 sec. and Provia 400F |
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Chris
Schur, Payson, Arizona, USA April 18 |
#1, more | C. Schur: "Last night we experienced a 'photographic aurora' here in Arizona. Youll find my image attatched. I use a home made all sky camera to shoot the sky when the Kp gets over six. We hit paydirt last night when the unmistakable red glow from the aurora made its image on the film, seen the next morning when it was developed. " |
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Colin
Tyler Bogucki, St Croix River between Minnesota & Wisconsin,
USA April 19 |
#1, #2, more | Photo details: Nikon 35mm SLR & 28 mm lens, 30 second exposures. |
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Ken
Cravillion, near Auroraville, Wisconsin, USA April 18 |
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, more | These images were captured near -- no kidding -- Auroraville, Wisconsin. |
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Rod
Bruce, near Clarkston,Washington April 20 |
#1 | R. Bruce: "This was my first attempt at aurura photography. I used a Pentax ME camera with Poloroid 400iso film; f2.8 at 30 sec. exposure." |
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Pekka
Parviainen, Turku, Finland April 19 |
#1, #2, more | P. Parviainen saw these rainbow-like auroras just after local sunset on Friday, April 19th. |
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Krzysztof Kordybach,
Helsinki, Finland April 19 |
#1, #2, #3 | These auroras were visible in spite of the bright city lights of Helsinki. Photo details: Fuji 200 film, lens 35mm, f4.0 |
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Mike
Labriola, 60 km northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada April 19 |
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 |
M. Labriola: "I could still faintly see
aurora 45 minutes before
sunrise. I would like to thank the coyotes for howling, it seemed they were telling me when to open the shutter." Photo details: Mamiya Secor SLR, 24mm lens; Fugi Superia 400 Film; ~30 seconds exposure |
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Lyndon
Anderson, near Bismarck, North Dakota April 19 |
#1, more | Lyndon Anderson captured this lovely image just after the April 19th CME swept past Earth. |
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Yuichi Takasaka,
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada April 18 |
#1 | Can you find the Big Dipper in this image? Photo details: Pentax KX, SMC 20mm, f2.8, 20 seconds, Fuji Provia 400F |
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John Russell,
Nome, Alaska, USA April 18 |
#1, #2, #3, #4 | Photo details: Nikon N90s, Nikkor 28mm @f1.4, 8 to 13 seconds on Superia 800 film. |
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Sherry Buttnor,
Metchosin, BC, CANADA April 18 |
#1, #2, #3, #4 | S. Buttnor: "After being aurora-free since October 2001, I finally saw a display! Visually, it was quite weak, so I'm pleased with the color and detail which shows on the photographs." Camera: Nikon FE with 28mm lens at f/2.8. Fuji Superia Xtra 800, ~15sec exposures processed for contrast only. |
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Yuichi Takasaka,
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada April 17 |
#1, #2, #3, #4 | It was cloudy in the Yukon, but Y. Takasaka saw these bright auroras anyway. Photo details: Pentax KX, SMC 20mm, f2.8, 80 seconds, Fuji Provia 400F |
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Peter
von Bagh, Porvoo, Finland April 17 |
#1 | It wasn't dark yet in Finland, but Peter von Bagh spotted these pink auroras anyway at 10 p.m. local time on April 17th. |
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Mark Simpson,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada April 18 |
#1, #2, #3, #4, more | Photo #1 includes Jupiter and the Moon. Photo details: Sony Dsc-F707 Digital Camera. f2.0. Exposure: 30 seconds |
