KELLY DAHL/LOS LAGOS – I typically prefer to keep the subject matter of my “Life in Nature” articles restrained to the natural world here in Colorado. This week I can’t help but take some space to write a bit about recent events unfolding in our skies. The last few weeks have had our mountain community joining much of this country and the world beyond in enjoying some spectacular and rare views in our night skies.  

To start, a few weeks ago we found our sun undergoing some very severe solar storms. These massive tempests often create solar flares. Occasionally these flares are powerful enough to break away from the sun in an event called a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). If the solar storm is facing the earth when the CME breaks off, we end up getting “washed” in a massive wave of plasma that disturbs our electromagnetic field, resulting in aurora appearances (Borealis in the northern hemisphere, and Australis in the southern).

The strength of the waves of plasma disturbing our electromagnetic field is measured on a scale known as the KP (or Planetary K) Index, with a rating scale from 1-9 (9 being the most intense). While rare, a KP index reading of 7 and above in the evenings can result in sightings of the aurora further south than is common. The first wave of those storms a few weeks ago registered as a 7, and a few days later registered as an 8, both quite large enough for aurora sightings. On the day of the 8, there was faint visibility as far south as Florida.

The second event was the naked-eye appearance of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS (C/2023 A3). Discovered only on January 9, 2023, the comet first became apparent to the eye from the International Space Station in early September of 2024, where it was photographed by astronaut Matthew Dominick. It soon became visible in the southern hemisphere, and a few weeks later began to appear in the morning skies of the northern hemisphere.  

As the comet approached maximum brightness, it became more apparent in the evening skies and can currently be seen about 45 minutes to an hour after sunset just south of due west.  It will be visible for another week or two after the publication of this article, though it appears slightly higher and less visible with each passing day. Sightings will also be hindered as ambient light from the moon will help to obscure the already dimmed comet. The image accompanying this article was captured in the evening before the Hunters Moon supermoon, and while the ambient brightness of the rising moon helped to illuminate the landscape as though near daytime, the comet was made much fainter as it traversed the sky. 

The comet is visible in the accompanying image above the horizon in the left of the picture.

If you have yet to see the comet firsthand, I recommend heading out if the evening skies are clear, and finding a place away from human light pollution, in order to observe this amazing visitor to our planetary system. Even though it may be almost too faint for the naked eye, a good way to “see” it is to use a phone camera set to Night mode. The camera’s sensor is far more sensitive to the light than the eye, thus making the faint appearance visible in a photograph. 

Note that you will want to keep the phone stationary and not bump it while the image is being taken. Night Mode will take a 5-10 second exposure, with the slightest movements creating blur.  

This is also the recommended technique for viewing the aurora, as otherwise the phenomenon seen this far south merely resembles city light pollution to the naked eye. An additional bonus of using a camera for viewing the aurora is that not only is the light more readily picked up, the sensor is also better at picking up the varying frequencies of light energies that fluctuate during the electromagnetic disturbance, thus showing more colors if the event is powerful enough.

Both events are highly recommended for their rarity, though the comet is by far the rarer, as once it disappears it will not return for another 80,000 years. The aurora, though rare, has far more possibility of sightings in our lifetime. 

We are currently undergoing a “solar maximum,” a period of peak solar activity expected to stretch into 2025. The resulting storms will continue to provide aurora sighting possibilities, so it is recommended to keep an eye on the KP index (updated every three hours on the NOAA website for space weather prediction) for those higher ratings in the evenings. 

Get on out there and enjoy some of our stunning celestial nature while it lasts!

Some information for this article came from https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/coronal-mass-ejections#:~:text=This%20can%20result%20in%20the,from%20the%20Sun%20%E2%80%93%20the%20CME, https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2023_A3_(Tsuchinshan%E2%80%93ATLAS).

For additional information about James DeWalt Photography, check out https://jamesdewaltphotography.com.