May 13, 2005 16:52 UTC-
One year from solar minimum, the sun releases an unexpected M8.0 flare with a full halo coronal mass ejection (CME) traveling at almost 1200 km/sec towards earth.

May 15, 2005 07:30 UTC-
My cell phone wakes me at 2:30am CDT Sunday morning - a text message from STD (Solar Terrestrial Dispatch): planetary Kp Index *9* alert! Even half asleep this caught my attention. I looked out the window and could see the green glow in the north thru broken clouds even where I live in the bright suburbs. I could only imagine what was going on in dark skies. I immediately got dressed, grabbed my gear and headed to my favorite aurora-viewing site at Jester Park on Saylorville Lake north of Des Moines, a 15 min. drive. On the route north, I could start seeing lots of action going on in the sky. Upon arriving, and my heart now racing, I jump out of my Mountaineer and see tall red, white and purple beams, curtains, waves and pulsations of light covering almost the entire sky. I quickly set-up my camera and tripod and started shooting. The ever-changing beautiful full corona overhead was mesmerizing to watch with ghost-like pulsations appearing to come right down upon me. This was one incredible light display by Mother Nature, and unfortunately none of my aurora-watching buddies made it out to the show. After an hour and a half of watching and shooting, the lights slowly fade out. In a daze, at 4:30am I head home.....wow. You can email me at stan@nightskyevents.com. http://www.nightskyevents.com