Payson Aurora
November 11, 2025

Uploaded 11/13/25

  On November 11th a series of CME impacts from the Sun created a big wallop on the Earths outer atmosphere and produced one of the biggest Aurora events in over 40 years. It was seen in nearly every state, and filled the sky with reds, greens and blues. Unfortunately here in Arizona it was mostly clouds and we could only see it through gaps or thin parts of the extensive cloudcover. It lasted all night long, the thick clouds were glowing red until morning light. We took about 90 shots with the camera and an 8mm f/3.5 fish eye lens set up on a tripod and a self timer to keep taking 2 minute exposures for about 7 hours. In the morning it was not only cloudy, but massive plumes from forest fire smoke dimmed everything to a dense fog! Here are two shots from that night, one right after it got dark and the second about 3 hours later showing the reds. The following night (12th) the aurora was still present but in Payson we were totally clouded out. Another late CME is supposed to hit tonight, but is much weaker. Stay tuned!
Select an image size for a larger view: 1290 x 960
Select an image size for a larger view: 1290 x 960
Instrument: Sigma 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens Platform: Tripod Camera: Hutech Modified Canon XTi @ ISO800 Exposure: 2m Filters: None Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing 4/10, Transparency 2/10 Outside Temperature: 45F Processing Tools: Photoshop CS2, Maxim DSLR HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS