The Story:

"Finally a sign of life from sunspot region 3576! It produced an M9.0 solar flare (R2-moderate) which peaked yesterday at 23:07 UTC. The solar flare was fairly impulsive but did produce a nice eruption with a mostly northward trajectory." (Source: https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/news/view/521/20240211-m9-solar-flare-with-earth-directed-cme.html )

When I was allowed to read this message, my heart started beating very quickly and the inner restlessness began. Thoughts like “will the weather be good and will it already be or still be light” were running around in my head.

On February 13, 2024, the previously announced solar/ geomagnetic storm occurred. I was able to capture this image in Finnish Lapland. I was there with my family for a few days to experience a cold winter and possibly observe and photograph the northern lights. With great anticipation and regular checking of the solar wind and other values such as the strength of the earth's magnetic field on Spaceweather.com, this prediction actually came about within the time window of our stay. To my delight, we had booked a guided tour that evening, which unfortunately included many overcrowded places. At this point the actual peak, around 0:15 a.m. to 1:45 a.m., had not yet been reached. Back at the hotel, I decided to go to the nearby frozen river Kemijoki (Finnlands longest and brightest river at all) again so that I might be able to see the Northern Lights. That was around 0:00 a.m. The lights were there the whole time, dim from about 8 p.m. Then came the peak. The experience of standing in the middle of such a solar/atmospheric event and observing the interaction of the particles with our atmospheric layers was indescribably beautiful. It was about -20 degrees cold and after a long tour, everything started to freeze. But the fact that it didn't want to end helped me stay out. The lights danced at such a fast pace that the camera would only have been able to capture this in live video mode. I was able to capture this dance with my smartphone, although the quality was poor. The photo was taken with a Sony Alpha 7iii camera body and the TTArtisan 11mm fisheye lens. The field is corrected in Photoshop and edited with Lightroom. 

The imaging details are:

Camera: Sony Alpha7iii
Lens: TTArtisan 11mm f2.8 for Fullframe
ISO: 6400Integration time: 5sec
Location: Hirvas (nearby Rovaniemi)/ Finnland- Lappland


It was a perfect vacation with so many new experiences. Among other things, a husky self-drive tour at minus 27 degrees Celsius, which was so cold that everything froze. But driving through the Lapland countryside with the dogs and the sleds...wow! If you have the chance, go there. The people are very friendly and accommodating.

If you like the picture and the story about it, please leave a comment.

Best regards
Daniel