An Aurora for the Ages

Aurora Borealis over Saginaw Bay by Tom Clark Photography

Last weekend saw a truly historic outburst of the aurora borealis, with the intensity scale reaching G5 three times, something that normally happens only 3 or 4 times every decade!! So many photographers featured in our Northern Lights category have great photos shared on their social media, but I wanted to get a pic from a place that’s normally left out of the cosmic fun!

Tom got this shot looking over Saginaw Bay on Friday night saying “I kid you not – these brilliant colors are in the Aurora as it first appeared. Minimal and normal editing of the raw files is all I did (except maybe the first image which i may have increased yellow and green saturation). As the night wore on the reds, pinks, disappeared and it was brilliant green.” See a bunch more on his Facebook!!

Solar Storm could bring northern lights to all of Michigan tonight!

Aurora Borealis over Lake Superior by Lake Superior Photo

Shawn Malone shared this photo yesterday saying: Incredible. There are now 4 CME’s earthward directed headed our way in the next few days. Levels of up to G4 storming are now forecast for auroras (see below for chart). Two of the CME’s merging late the 10th into the 11th are responsible for the G4 forecast for that time. I can’t ever remember this many earthward CME’s in such a short period of time from one region (3664 in this case).

…This is pretty amazing. Region 3664 is HUGE. Looks like that region alone has released 5 CMEs now, the last one tbd if it is earthward, but the rest appear to be with G4 storming in the forecast for Fri into Sat and very possibly beyond. This is the weekend to make a trip if you can, however we have cloud cover tomorrow night (aka tonight), MN looks better in that respect

FYI a G4 level solar storm can make it possible to see the aurora as far south as Detroit!!! She took this near Marquette. Follow her on Facebook or Instagram and FOR SURE view & purchase her work at LakeSuperiorPhoto.com where she has a massive northern lights gallery!

Shelf cloud over the Mackinac Bridge

Shelf Cloud Over Mackinac Bridge by Michigan Native Photography

I saw a couple other photos of this cloud as it rolled across the Straits of Mackinac & northeast Michigan the other day but wowzas – the Mighty Mac takes it!! Our friends at the Earth Science Picture of the Day have an excellent post on the difference between roll clouds & shelf clouds:

Roll clouds and shelf clouds are found near the leading edge of thunderstorms and form when relatively cool air, from the storm’s downdraft, forges ahead into the warm, moist air that’s feeding the storm. The main difference between roll clouds and shelf clouds (both are called arcus clouds) is that a roll cloud is detached from the parent thunderstorm, whereas a shelf cloud (right) is affixed to the base of a cumulonimbus cloud.

NOTE: Just learned that this picture is from 2018 – still love it! (buy it here)

You can follow Michigan Native Photography on Facebook or Instagram and view & purchase more work on their website.

There’s more weird, wild Michigan weather on Michpics including a monster roll cloud over Lake Michigan from June of 2016.

2024 NFL Draft in Detroit

2024 NFL Draft Stage in Detroit by Brad Galli WXYZ

The 2024 NFL Draft kicks off TODAY in Detroit, Michigan. WXYZ Sports Director Brad Galli shared this photo of the stage lit up & ready to go! In case you’re wondering, they didn’t use Ford Field, Comerica Park, Fox Theatre or any of Detroit’s other big venues because the crowd is so massive. Detroit is anticipating 300,000 – 400,000 people over three days!!

I live in Detroit & will be posting a lot of updates to the Michigan in Pictures Facebook & also to my personal Instagram. You can get a lot of general info about the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit along with some events I’m looking forward to right here.

“Your pictures are so pretty” (Torch Lake Edition)

Crazy Fast Times on Torch Lake by Drew Shaffer

This morning I saw this fantastic pic shared without attribution for probably the 100th time. I knew the attribution because I had shared it from Instagram back in 2017.

I know that a million bots building social media using AI will only make things worse, so I really (really) want to make a plea to all of you to FOLLOW THE PHOTOGRAPHER. Every time you do, even if you don’t purchase their work, you build their following which makes it more likely that their work is credited and profitable because making pretty pictures is hard and takes lots of glass & gas!!

Drew Shaffer is a photographer/filmmaker from Ohio with a whole lot of fun stuff going on including some awesome eclipse shots & a very cool looking documentary called The Long Way Forward. You can follow him on Instagram or YouTube!

PS: Yes, dear skeptic. This photo is real and Torch Lake is really that clear some days. Michigan is lovely 😻

Comet P12 Pons-Brooks Visits Eagle Harbor!

Comet P12 Pons-Brooks Visits Eagle Harbor by Shelby Diamondstar Photography

Let’s head WAY north for another exciting celestial phenomenon, Comet P12 Pons-Brooks aka the Devil’s Comet. Space.com explains that the comet is named after French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons (1761-1831) who went on to become the greatest visual comet discoverer of all time:

In today’s world, comets are routinely found when they are far out in space, beyond the ability of being picked up by human eyes, but are caught using robotic cameras attached to large telescopes either here on Earth or from satellites out in space.

In contrast, Pons made most of his discoveries using telescopes and lenses of his own design; his “Grand Chercheur” (“Great Seeker”) was an instrument with a large aperture and short focal length, similar to telescopes that our modern-day amateurs would refer to as a “comet seeker.” Pons is noted today for visually discovering 37 comets (still a record) from 1801 to 1827.

…On Sept. 2, 1883, British-born American comet observer William R. Brooks (1844-1921) accidently found it. Like Pons, Brooks was a prolific discoverer of comets. In fact, his total of 27 visual discoveries is second only to Pons. Not until the first orbital calculations of Brooks’ discovery was made, was it realized that this comet and the comet found by Pons of 1812 were one of the same. So, this comet now bears the surnames of both observers.

With an orbital period of roughly 71 years, comet Pons-Brooks is considered to be a “Halley-type” comet, that is, a comet with an orbital period between 20 and 200 years, often appearing only once or twice within one’s lifetime. Other comets with a similar orbital period include 13P/Olbers, 23P/Brosen-Metcalf and the most famous of all, 1P/Halley. Because it was the twelfth comet to have a definitive orbital period calculated, it is cataloged today as 12P/Pons-Brooks.

You can look for the comet just after sunset, but you will probably need binoculars given the afterglow of the sunset.

MaryBeth took this way up on the Keweenaw Peninsula at Eagle Harbor Lighthouse. Click the photo above to share a comment with her on Facebook and for sure view & purchase her work at shelbydiamondstar.com!

PS: In my best Arnold voice, “I’ll be back” (because she has an amazeballs photo for us!)

Fly Me to the Moon

Fly Me to the Moon by Morgan Andrew Somers

I have seen a lot of amazing photos of the April 8, 2024 eclipse, but this shot from Flint by Morgan Andrew Somers of a plane flying into the eclipse is one of the coolest!!

Head over to the MASphoto Facebook for more including the answer to “is this photo fake” (no, it is not). View & purchase prints including this one at morganandrewsomers.com!

More eclipse photos on Michigan in Pictures & please share yours in the comments, to the post on Facebook or our Michigan in Pictures group!

Gordie Howe’s Last Girder

Gordie Howes Last Girder by photosbyjoeyd

Joey got an incredible drone shot of workers laying the last girder in place to connect the deck of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge to the Detroit Port of Entry. An astonishing project that is directed and paid for by Canada!

Check out more photos by Joey on his Instagram and view & purchase photos on his website!

Lots more bridges on Michigan in Pictures!

All or nothing for the April 8th eclipse

Solar Eclipse, October 23, 2014 by David Marvin

So…. you will see the sky darken in most of Michigan BUT you won’t get the total eclipse:

“There is no such thing as a 99% total solar eclipse,” Dr. Rick Fienberg, Project Manager, AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force at the American Astronomical Society, said in a press briefing. “Just like there’s no such thing as being 99% pregnant — it’s all or nothing.”

More from Space.com & if you do want to see how much coverage you’ll get, check out this Freep article which lists Start time for partial eclipse in Detroit as 1:58pm, max coverage (99%) at 3:14pm, ending at 4:27pm.

David took this photo back in 2014. See his latest on Flickr!

The Mighty Mac

Mighty Mackinac by Greg Jarman

UP TV-6 shares that the Mackinac Bridge Authority is expecting about 20,000 crossings of the bridge this weekend, about the same as 2021. Whether you’re traveling or staying put this weekend, I hope you have a good one & remember those who have put their lives on the line for this country.

Greg took this photo back in 2016. See more in his Print gallery on Flickr.

Lots more about the Mighty Mackinac Bridge on Michigan in Pictures.