Aurora Observation by Isiah Waybright on Tuesday, 20 January 2026 around 23:36 UTC

Summary

Observer	Isiah Waybright
Location	Delaplane, United States Low latitude
Coordinates	38° 59' 7" N / 78° 2' 28" W
Time	Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 23:36 UTC
Duration	30 minutes
Aurora visibility	Auroras seen through breaks in the clouds
Aurora brightness	Bright aurora
Aurora forms	Arc Band Rays
Aurora Colors	Red Purple Violet
Aurora conditions	Kp7+ Hp30: 8o Dst -155nT

Story

The night before this sighting was unsuccessful because I didn’t fully understand how to track the Bz component or solar wind data. After studying space weather conditions more carefully the next day, I monitored the data closely and waited for favorable conditions. Eventually, I noticed a faint reddish-pink glow in the sky that slowly intensified. The aurora appeared as a broad arc with occasional vertical ray structure. It gradually brightened, reached a peak where the  color was clearly visible to the naked eye, and then slowly faded back into a diffuse glow before disappearing.

I captured the aurora using a DSLR camera mounted on a tripod with long-exposure settings to bring out the color and structure. In post-processing, I made basic adjustments in Lightroom, including slight exposure correction, contrast enhancement, noise reduction, and minor color balancing to accurately reflect what was visible to the eye. No major compositing or artificial enhancements were made.

Image information