DULUTH — The solar storm that was expected to fill Minnesota's sky with northern lights peaked around 3 a.m. Friday and lasted long enough for early risers, according to the Duluth branch of the National Weather Service.
Northern lights put on a show early Friday in northern Minnesota; more expected tonight
Early risers on Friday might have caught the red aurora.
December 1, 2023 at 4:53PM
There could be more Friday night, visible to sky-watchers in northern Minnesota. The peak is expected between 6-9 p.m.
"Astro" Bob King, a Duluth photographer and astronomy writer reported that the bright moonlight was making viewing a challenge on Thursday night, but around 10 p.m. a quiet aurora arc "splintered into multiple rays," followed by another bright arc a few minutes later.
"Just when everything seemed to be in motion it all shrunk back as quickly as it had erupted," he wrote on his Facebook page.
All was not lost. He caught a red aurora that landed on his list of superlatives between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.
"It was the reddest aurora I've seen in years," King said in a Facebook post. "Even in moonlight, the deep red and pink-red rays were vivid with these old eyes."
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