The aurora borealis seen on May 10, from Albany, N.Y. Photo: Alex Fitzpatrick/Axios
As a space phenomena junkie, this past weekend was an absolute treat.
Living in upstate New York, I keep tabs on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's space weather forecast for any chance to glimpse the northern lights — and boy, did they deliver this past weekend.
I usually head up to the inky-black skies of the Adirondacks for a chance to spot them when conditions are right.
But thanks to the recent solar storm, they showed up in my backyard — in Albany city limits, light pollution be damned.
How it works: To snag the above photo, I put my Ricoh GR IIIx on a tripod in shutter priority mode, set for 30 seconds at 3200 ISO.
The big picture: The aurora showed up not just in the typical northern latitudes, but across the U.S. and the world.
Like the recent solar eclipse, there's something special about being part of an event that so many people are trying to see at the same time.
I hope you got to see them, too.
But if you didn't, don't feel too much FOMO. The sun is in a period of what's called "solar maximum," when solar activity is expected to be high, generating more of the coronal mass ejections that can cause strong aurora on Earth.
