Saturday, 17 January 2026, I attended a Star Party at Oracle State Park.

Monday, 19 January, besides the predictions of Indiana University (my Alma Mater) winning the College Football National Championship that night, there were also predictions of G3, G4, and possibly even G5 geomagnetic storms. The predictions were true! While the IU-Miami game was in-progress, I monitored the Mt Lemmon Observatory (11 miles south of Oracle) skycam for any hints of a red sky in the north. Shortly after 1900 MST I saw some red sky in their camera.

1912 MST: I went outside to the observatory. I could see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) faintly with my naked eyes. Using the iPhone 15 Pro Max mounted on a camera tripod, I took this photograph with the Camera app (Night Mode, 30 seconds, 1X lens).

As the IU game continued I also continued to monitor the Mt Lemmon skycam over the next several hours. IU won, but I didn't see any more Aurora on the camera. Overnight, every 60-90 minutes I would wake up and check the skycam. Finally at 0345 MST I saw a faint red glow to the north in the camera. I went outside and took these tripod mounted iPhone 15 Pro Max photos (Night Mode, 30 seconds, 1X lens).

0351 MST


0352 MST


0354 MST

I briefly saw the "pillars" (top photo) with my naked eyes, but the rest of the Aurora was not visible.

Definitely a wonderful night. Indiana University is the National Champion!!! And Aurora Borealis was once again visible from southern Arizona!

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