Aurora in Leeds, 30 October 2003

Following a spectacular solar flare on 28 October, much of the UK was treated to a splendid auroral display when the CME (coronal mass ejection) hit the earth a day later. It was even visible from our heavily light polluted back garden in Leeds, UK, and is our first aurora sighting.

This picture, a 15 second exposure with a Canon 10D taken looking north, has not been processed in any way; it has just been scaled for the web. You can clearly see the eerie green glow silhouetting the clouds, and reddish rays extending upwards. The white dots are stars, of course.

There will be many far better pictures of this display posted to the web over the next few days, but this is our first, and we never expected to see an aurora from Leeds at all. A wonderful treat!