In this month’s edition, I was going to look at satellites and other manmade objects visible from your back garden, but with so much happening in May, I thought I would focus on that and save the ISS for later. Last month, we were treated to a once in an 11-year natural light display, which is now being described as the Great Aurora of 2024. The best part is, it may not be over yet.

The Great Aurora of 2024
When we think of the Sun, we often think of it as an unchanging feature of our solar system; this couldn’t be further from the truth. Like so many trillions of other stars in the universe, our star is a variable star, meaning its solar activity rises and falls over time. The solar cycle for our Sun is measured over an approximately 11-year period. This means that every 11 years, the Sun will experience the Solar Maximum, where the star’s magnetosphere and sunspot activity will be at its highest. Solar Maximum will see far more sunspots on the surface of the Sun, more Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) where the Sun seemingly explodes huge amounts of material off into space, more solar flares, and more effects on Earth, like electromagnetic interference and aurora.

What happened in May
Between May 3 and May 9, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded over 80 solar flares originating from two regions of the Sun’s surface. These regions were identifiable by their large concentrations of Sunspots, areas where the magnetosphere at the surface of the Sun is thousands of times higher than Earth’s and results in cooler surface temperatures. Over the course of that week, those regions continually erupted with solar flare activity. Still, the 7 very large CMEs, which started on May 7, were aimed directly at Earth and began to batter our planet from May 10 which would result in the greatest aurora seen.

What are aurorae?
Auroras are curtain-like or pillar-like light phenomena that result from disturbances in the Earth's magnetosphere caused by the solar wind. Most auroras occur in a band known as the "auroral zone", which is an area approximately 500km in width at northern and southern latitudes between 10 to 20 degrees from the magnetic poles.
The intensity of the displays is dependent on the strength of the solar winds, and following CMEs and Solar Flares, activity can increase considerably, both in brightness and size of the auroral zone. The light we see is caused by charged particles interacting with the Earth’s upper atmosphere. The resulting ionization excites atmospheric gases like Oxygen, hydrogen, and Nitrogen, causing those gases to emit light of varying colour and complexity.
In May the size and strength of the CMEs meant that the auroral zone was expanded considerably to more southern latitudes, so much so that the Northern Lights were seen as far south as the Mediterranean and southern states of the US in including Alabama and Tennessee.

What damage can solar storms do?
One piece of good news from the incredibly powerful storms seen in May was how little damage or disruption they caused. The solar winds and the ionisation and energisation of particles in the upper atmosphere can play havoc with unshielded electronics, reflect and disrupt radio waves and overload energy storage and transmission devices. So far, however, there have been vanishingly small – if any – reports of such issues. This is because the damage seen in the past to things like telegraph lines and substations has been designed out of the system. There is now more protection for electronic devices, and some of the technologies most affected previously are no longer commonly used, having been replaced with more modern alternatives. Whilst the impacts of solar storms haven’t changed, the risk of serious disruption seems to have been reduced significantly.

How rare is this event?
Solar maximums happen every 11 years, and the last event of a similar scale to the one in May was in the autumn of 2003. The important difference between that event and May’s was that in 2024, more people had access to smartphone technology and the internet, which means solar storm warnings were received, and people stepped outside and looked up. Sharing their experiences via social media meant that by the 12th of May, everyone had likely seen an image or two of the aurorae in their social feed. While most people think that the show is over, we are still creeping towards the solar maximum, and we aren’t quite there yet. There is still plenty of time for the Sun to aim many more CMEs in our direction.

Photos of the Great Aurora 2024
Here are a few of the images I took of the aurora from my location in East Anglia on the East coast of the UK. I have enhanced a couple of images to pull forward the amazing purples and greens seen on May 12th.


A raw image of the light curtain with a subtle (and eerie) green glow caused by ionisation of upper atmosphere Oxygen.


Another raw image of the ribbon like effect. It really does seem to shift and shimmer before your eyes when observing.


Later in the evening the first hints of purples start to show, as seen here in this pillar-like effect.


The purple is caused by ionisation of upper atmosphere Nitrogen, this image has been enhanced a little to bring out the colours.

The planetarium

The Moon
Here are the Moon’s phases during June, along with the dates.
• New Moon – 6th June 2024
• First Quarter – 14th June 2024
• Full Moon – 22nd June 2024
• Last Quarter – 28th June 2024

The sweetest full moon of the year is June’s full moon, commonly known as the Full Strawberry Moon. While the full moon itself is inedible, despite how round and delicious it may seem, the Full Strawberry Moon marks strawberry harvesting season in North America.
Thanks to MoonGiant for this information; read more about the June Moon phases on their website.

I'm going to be honest, the first half of 2024 has not been the best time to observe most planets due to their position in relation to the Sun, this will improve a lot in the second half of the year, but for now - none of the planets are very easy to observe.

Mercury
Mercury is not a great target this month, disappearing out of view early in the month within the glare of the Sun. it will make a reappearance in the evening sky towards the end of the month.

Venus
Venus will not be visible this month as it continues its transit through the sun’s glare, becoming an evening object again in August.

Mars
From the 10th June onwards Mars will move into Aries and will be visible from about 3am onwards until dawn. By the end of the month Mars will be visible from 2:30am onwards, and will grow in prominence for the rest of the year.

Jupiter
Jupiter passed superior conjunction last month and reappears in the morning sky in the East in June. It will rise close to the Pleiades from June 30th, and sit above Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus. Always a bright planet, the Gas Giant will continue to brighten in the morning sky for the rest of the year.

Saturn
A morning planet in the eastern sky sitting in Aquarius from June 1. It rises just before 2 am and will sit close to the gibbous Moon on the morning of June 27. The rings are almost hidden now due to the angle we are seeing Saturn at, so you can see practically the full disk for the first time in 14 years.

Uranus
Uranus will not be visible this month, the brightness of the sky will make it impossible to see in the mornings.

Neptune
Neptune is barely visible this month, but sits almost stationary 9 degrees southwest of the circlet of Pisces. The lighter skies will make it even harder to spot than normal.

Next Month’s Preview
Next month I will look at some more of my favourite summer constellations, and how and when to spot the ISS and satellites.

What did you think of this edition of UFP Stellar Cartography? Let us know in the comments below.

WRITTEN BY WoorLord
EDITED BY WoorLord
IMAGES SOURCED FROM MoonGiant.com - Other photo credits owned by WoorLord.