We Didn't See an Aurora Borealis Last Night

Image Credit: Dakotalapse.com

An aurora borealis rolled through the area last night. It was the first major light event in the Chicago area in nearly seven years, according to Triton College astronomer Dan Joyce.

Not that we could see it, of course, what with all the street lights and other light pollution. If there was a time for a citywide blackout, last night would have been ideal for stargazers. Outlying suburbs such as Batavia and Mundelein were able to see it. A Madison, WI photographer and his son captured the storm level borealis last night and set up a slideshow.

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By Chuck Sudo in News on October 25, 2011 10:00 AM 0 Comments

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Tonya Johnson

If you happened to be on the lake you would have seen the aurora borealis last night. A crazy friend and I were on his sailboat last night near 47th street and were treated to nature's light show. I didn't think that you could see something like that in the city but even the stars were highly visible and it didn't even look like we were in Chicago. It was one of the last sailing opportunities with decent weather before having to store the boat for the season. It was a chilly but magical evening.

chicagoist_tips

I'm curious: how far off shore was your friend to be able to see this? - Chuck

BlueFairlane

I, too, happened to be coming back into town from the south, and was about 100 miles out when I saw it. It only lasted about 15 minutes, but that 15 minutes was brilliant.

ElvisStojko

I live in Madison and didn't see anything like that. Of course, between 8:30 and 9:30 I was laying on my couch watching the Cardinals strand 11 base runners. I also live in downtown Madison which may suffer from similar, if less harsh, light pollution than downtown Chicago.

twocee

I just happened to be coming home on 57 south of Kankakee last night and got to see it. It wasn't nearly as intense as those pics from Wisconsin, but it was still darned cool.