[ENHANCED VIEWING RECOMMENDED IN DARK ROOM AND SCREEN BRIGHTNESS TURN UP, AND TAKE VIDEO TO FULL SCREEN]
[3X SPEED] A purplish blue streak rises from Orchard Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church Saturday, May 11, 2024 after 3:00 a.m. The still images were captured about 9:10 p.m. Friday, May 10, 2024 before a cold front and cloud cover passed through; and the video images are all from the period after 3:00 a.m. Saturday. Only the still images are modified to enhance the appearance of the Big Dipper, which was upside down directly over Thomas Middle School. The focus on blue streak begins at elapsed time 2:26/3:38 in this video at 3X speed). YouTube Tips ⓘ
If you had a certain perspective of the Northern Lights very early Saturday morning from the block of 1300 North Pine Avenue in Arlington Heights, and looking toward the property of the Orchard Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church, you would have seen a purplish blue streak rise from the horizon near the church to a point in the sky directly above your vantage point — the zenith.
The purplish blue streak was visible at about 3:00 a.m. Saturday, May 11, 2024. The images in this article are best viewed in a dark room.
Around a period of time that a solar storm reached G5 – Extreme (the max rating), brilliant Northern Light displays usually only seen in Alaska, Canada, Sweden, and Finland, for example, were visible in Illinois, and as far south as Tennessee, Florida, Texas, and Alabama. During the brilliant Northern Lights display around the world, Chicagoland’s viewing was hampered by cloud cover and precipitation that was caused by a cold front moving southeastward through the area from about 9:15 p.m. until 2:00 a.m.
In Arlington Heights Northern Lights were visible during dark twilight over 30 minutes after sunset (8:01 p.m. Friday, May 10, 2024) until cloud cover moved in about 9:25 p.m. The cold front brought clouds, rain and even a little lightning and thunder.
When Northern Lights are weaker, the color is usually greenish, but southern regions red, pink, purple and bluish colors.. The lights often look like curtains that flash mildly and generate streaks that rise upward.
During the night’s second opportunity to view the Northern Lights display, the Northern Lights were weakening after 3:00 a.m. Saturday. However, a particularly long purplish blue stream projected upward from the east-northeast horizon near the Orchard Arlington Heights church steeple and rose to the zenith, which an imaginary point directly above the vantage point of a person observing the sky. The blue streak looked a little like an angelic blue tornado.
There was a band of green, orange and reddish mildly flashing above the northeast horizon, but from the perspective of Pine Avenue, the purplish blue streak rose from the right side of this band of Northern Lights, rising from the church, and reaching upward like the blue tornado all the way to the zenith.
[NORMAL SPEED] A purplish blue streak rises from Orchard Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church Saturday, May 11, 2024 after 3:00 a.m. The still images were captured about 9:10 p.m. Friday, May 10, 2024 before a cold front and cloud cover passed through; and the video images are all from the period after 3:00 a.m. Saturday. Only the still images are modified to enhance the appearance of the Big Dipper, which was upside down directly over Thomas Middle School. The focus on blue streak begins at elapsed time 9:30/12:31 in this video at normal speed). YouTube Tips ⓘ
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