Most people who saw this on the night of May 10, 2024 were most likely looking at aurora. A severe geomagnetic storm, rated G5 with a Kp of 8.3, pushed the northern lights unusually far south over Florida. The reports describe a faint pink and red glow low in the north that stayed still, made no sound, and lasted about an hour, which fits aurora well. Phone cameras picked up more color than the eye did, which is common with aurora. Sky lanterns scored lower at 63, but they usually flicker orange and drift with the wind, so they fit this sighting less well. Drones and aircraft scored lower still. No satellites or launches were logged for that window, and the aircraft check was unavailable.
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 · #ywmk9hfx2swg
Northern lights over Florida during the May 2024 storm
Aurora. Enjoy it.Want answers like this first in Google? Add WTH Was That? as a preferred source.
Sky Snapshot 10:30 PM, give or take 15 minutes
- Sky
- fully dark
- Moon
- waxing crescent, 9° up
- Planets up
- none bright
- Bright stars
- Arcturus (southeast 68°), Vega (northeast 20°), Capella (northwest 7°), Procyon (west 14°)
- Weather
- mostly clear, wind 10 km/h
- Space weather
- severe storm (Kp 8.3)
- Sunset
- 8:12 PM
Download the snapshot card to share it anywhere.
What people saw
- When
- May 10, 2024, 10:30 PM EDT
- Where
- Gainesville, Florida, US
- Looking
- north, low in the sky
- Lasted
- 1.0 hours
- Looked like
- one, pink/red, cloud, still
- Sound
- none
On the night of May 10, 2024, people across North and Central Florida stepped outside and saw a faint pink and red glow low in the northern sky. Phone cameras showed it far more vividly than eyes did.
It was the aurora, pushed unusually far south by the strongest geomagnetic storm in more than 20 years, rated G5, the top of the scale. Aurora is almost never seen this far south, which is exactly why so many people weren't sure what they were looking at.
Sources:
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/florida/2024/05/11/northern-lights-reach-central-florida-will-they-shine-again-tonight
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2024_solar_storms
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.
-
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.
-
Military parachute flares Doesn't fit28%
- +5Night, when flares are used and seen.
- +10From far away a slowly sinking flare seems to hover.
- +5Seen low over the horizon, often from far away.
- +5Silent from a distance.
- ·Flares are dropped over military training ranges, so they are most often seen within a hundred miles or so of one.
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: no bright planets up, and the Moon was up
- Space weather: severe storm (Kp 8.3)
- Weather: mostly clear
- Meteor showers: Eta Aquariids
How we worked this out
We took a snapshot of the sky from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after May 11, 2024, 2:30 AM UTC at 29.65, -82.32, and scored 20 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.
Discussion 0 replies
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