Aurora of 21 October 2001 from 45°N

Exactly 20 years ago, a notable appearance of auroras perfectly visible from northern Italy, at + 45 ° N, well below the Polar Circle. In that period solar activity was very high, in fact it was at the maximum of the first peak of cycle 23. This determined 4 events extended to low latitude between 2000 and 2001 (7 April and 16 July 2000, 31 March and 21 October 2001). On Sunday 21 October of that year, around 11 pm local time, the sky turned intense red towards the north for almost an hour. This exceptional phenomenon was triggered a few days earlier by the great sunspot AR9661 (# 04). The third photo shows the constellation of Ursa Major, which gives the idea of ​​the development in the sky of this aurora. The green color in the lower part is a chromatic dominant due to light pollution. Images taken from Tradate (Varese) by Cesare Guaita (Gruppo Astronomico Tradatese), with a 50 mm lens. on 200 ISO slides and 60 second exposures. We are hoping for something similar for cycle 25, as the Sun has recently had a good increase in its activity!

Source: https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=178813