Northern Lights with Ramu
At around midnight last night (Oct 7-8, 2024) I was outside to check on the northern lights when I got a phone call from my friend Ramu. Ramu missed the spectacular northern light display in May of this year as he was on a photo safari in Africa.
Since then Ramu was hoping for a repeat performance that he could photograph. We've had numerous discussions trying to decipher charts from NOAA's northern lights prediction page. We've been skunked numerous times.
At about 9pm on the night of the 7th I contacted Ramu to let him know I was seeing a so-so display of lights and Ramu decided to drive from his home in the western burbs of Chicago out away from city lights. He ended up south of Hampshire, IL.
At around midnight I texted Ramu to let him know things were starting to get interesting. It was then Ramu called me to inform me he wasn't seeing much of anything.
In our five minute phone call things got really interesting. It was fun comparing notes while on the phone. I am so happy that Ramu finally got to see a good show, 250 miles to the SE of my location.
This video shows just how rapidly conditions can change and it gives you the viewer an opportunity to see how the lights appear in real-time compared to time-lapse photography. Seeing them in real time is awe-inspiring.