My Aurora Quest
I've been chasing the aurora for the last 9 years. I follow space weather as much as our Earth weather and knew there was a chance of aurora happening in Cornwall that evening, as an intense solar flare had erupted a few days prior. They always take 2-3 days to arrive at Earth and so it is a waiting game.
Cornwall's Celestial Welcome
As I arrived at Latitude 50 in Polzeath, Cornwall, I was greeted by a flurry of aurora alerts on my phone. I quickly set up my Fujifilm XT5 camera, equipped with a 16mm f2.8 lens and a Siriu W-2004 tripod. I knew that a few big solar flares and CMEs had left the sun Thursday & Friday, so I was hopeful there might be a chance of some aurora from tonight.
And wow. WOW!!! WOWWW!!!
Witnessing Nature's Spectacle
I was checking in at the stunning Hideaway in Polzeath, hosted by @latitude50cornwallholidays @masseytravel on a PR stay. My case was open in seconds, tripod out and attached to my camera and I ran over to the beach, just a minute from the accommodation, if that.
It is one of the things I love about staying in nature connected places, because you can drop everything and chase the majesty that nature is sharing!
After a few shots, there was a diffuse glow and I suddenly realised that I could see really visible rays stretching right up through the sky and so I changed my lens over for a wider one and within that time the sky had completely changed and it was totally filled with vivid red aurora filling the sky. It was so vivid, I could see it with my own eyes!!
I could see some folk had left @surfside_polzeath, I called out excited to share what was dancing in the sky. They rushed over, realised they could see it and started taking photos on their phones. Everyone was blown away by what they were capturing.
The red glow lasted for hours. I went onto the amazing roof garden of my apartment and waited to see if the activity would build again. At about 2.40am, the stats went wild again and I was shooting such vivid pillars from the roof.
I decided to make another dash for the beach and I am so glad I did! The vast sky was totally full of glowing aurora, even more visible than the first burst of activity.
I can’t believe that this happened literally as I pulled up last night! It is time now to sleep and rise when the sun is shining to see this beautiful place in daylight!
Latitude 50 - what a welcome with my most vivid southerly aurora chase to date!
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