This was almost certainly the aurora. A severe geomagnetic storm (Kp 8.3) pushed the northern lights unusually far south that night, and a red glow low in the north is a classic sign of it. The data scores aurora at 95%, with the northern direction, low height, red color and steady, silent glow all fitting. The sky lantern and drone scores are much lower, and the bright stars and Venus don't match the position or the height. Clouds from Hurricane Milton hid the display across much of the state, which is why it looked dim to many people and far brighter in phone photos. The sources listed in the case point to news and astronomy reports from that night.
From the archive: the WTH team wrote this up from a real event that was widely reported at the time, to show how the checks work. The sources are at the end of the description.
From the archive · #mgg4vfbwve3e
A red glow low in the north over Orlando: the October 2024 aurora
Aurora. Enjoy it.Want answers like this first in Google? Add WTH Was That? as a preferred source.
Sky Snapshot 8:10 PM, give or take 15 minutes
- Sky
- astronomical twilight
- Moon
- first quarter, 33° up
- Planets up
- Venus (6°), Saturn (33°)
- Bright stars
- Arcturus (west 5°), Vega (northwest 64°), Altair (southwest 68°), Antares (southwest 10°)
- Weather
- overcast, wind 17 km/h
- Space weather
- severe storm (Kp 8.3)
- Sunset
- 7:00 PM
Download the snapshot card to share it anywhere.
What people saw
- When
- Oct 10, 2024, 8:10 PM EDT
- Where
- Orlando, Florida, US
- Looking
- north, low in the sky
- Lasted
- 1.0 hours
- Looked like
- one, red, cloud, still
- Sound
- none
Around 8 PM on October 10, 2024, the day after Hurricane Milton crossed the state, people from Jacksonville to Orlando and Polk County shared photos of a reddish glow sitting low over the northern horizon.
It was the aurora again, during a severe geomagnetic storm. Clouds from the hurricane hid it in many places, but where the sky cleared it was visible to the eye as a dim red band, and much brighter in phone photos.
Sources:
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2024/10/11/did-you-see-it-viewers-share-photos-of-northern-lights-over-florida
https://www.astronomy.com/observing/earth-could-see-strong-aurorae-tonight-as-solar-storm-watch-hits-severe-g4-level/
From above the area, the way they looked, and what was overhead
The map needs JavaScript. The checks below list everything it shows.
The circle is the area the report came from, rounded to about 10 km. We never show a witness's exact spot.
See it in 3D on the Sky Globe, at the moment it was seen
What it could be
-
Aurora Likely95%
- +45A severe geomagnetic storm was under way (Kp 8.3); aurora reached unusually low latitudes.
- +10Toward the pole, where aurora sits.
- +15Glows, curtains or vertical rays fit aurora.
- +15Green, red and pink are aurora colors.
- +5Slow, shifting glow.
-
Sky lantern Possible63%
- +10Night sighting.
- +20Orange flickering glow is a sky lantern.
- +20Drifts slowly with the wind, often rising.
- +5Silent.
-
Drone Possible50%
- +20Hovering in place is the drone move.
- +10Consumer drones carry small red, green and white LEDs.
- +10Drones fly low.
- -10Most drones land within half an hour.
-
Bright star (twinkling) Doesn't fit46%
- -10No first-magnitude star was in that part of the sky.
- +15Low bright stars flash red, green and blue through turbulent air.
- +8Twinkling is strongest near the horizon.
- +15A fixed position fits a star.
- +10Stays for a long time.
-
Venus (bright planet) Doesn't fit35%
- +10Venus was above the horizon and bright (magnitude -3.9).
- +10Venus gets reported as an unknown light more than anything else in the sky.
- -25Venus was in a different part of the sky (248° azimuth).
- -10Its height above the horizon doesn't match.
- +20A light that just sits there is the planet signature (it drifts west slowly with the sky).
- +15Visible for a long time, like a planet.
- +5One steady light.
-
Aircraft Doesn't fit30%
- +15Red and green are navigation lights.
- -5A plane flying straight at you can look like it is hovering for a minute or two.
- -10An aircraft would have passed by then.
- ·Flight tracks weren't checked: aircraft are only looked up live, for reports filed within a few minutes.
What we checked
- Satellites: not checked (orbit data missing)
- Starlink trains: not checked
- Launches: none within 90 minutes and 3,000 km
- Aircraft: not checked (no flight history feed yet)
- Planets and Moon: Venus, Saturn, and the Moon was up
- Space weather: severe storm (Kp 8.3)
- Weather: overcast
- Meteor showers: Orionids
How we worked this out
We took a snapshot of the sky from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after Oct 11, 2024, 12:10 AM UTC at 28.54, -81.38, and scored 21 possible explanations. Each one starts from how common it is, then gains or loses points for every detail the witness gave and every record we found. The points are listed next to each reason above. "Likely" means 80% or more and "Possible" means 50 to 79%. Anything lower doesn't fit, and if nothing reaches 50%, the case stays unexplained.
Sources: launch schedule from Launch Library 2; planetary Kp from GFZ Potsdam; weather from Open-Meteo; Sun, Moon and planet positions worked out on our server with astronomy-engine. Engine 0.4.0, snapshot v2, worked out Oct 29, 2026, 4:53 PM UTC.
Not available for this report: satellite passes.
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