After seeing my parents, Jim and Bobbie Mabry, in Nashville for an early Mother’s Day visit, we planned to visit our friend Diane Johnson “DJ” Greer at her country estate in Baxter on the Cumberland Plateau.
There were reports of a solar disturbance of historical proportions that evening and as we travelled east, my Aurora Alerts app indicated that the reports were accurate and the solar storm imminent.
Badger burst into DJ’s residence with a promise of a historical display of northern lights on the Cumberland Plateau. Not only was DJ’s mom Mary Johnson present, so too were #rolemodels John Forbes and Kitty Myers – and they all witnessed their first aurora borealis in person.
The eventful night was not nearly over, though. Badger had envisioned a photo of the celestial colors above nearby Center Hill Lake. Having little to no knowledge of the area except that the lake was nearby, DJ as the resident expert, accompanied by Mary, sped off, followed by Badger, artfully meandering through rural roads until finally finding a suitable location showing the lights.
As a bonus, the recent flooding in Middle Tennessee had raised the water level to a location sufficient to permit the reflection of the crescent moon on the water with a background of Northern Lights. So, the elements of solar light, water, the reflection of the crescent moon and the aurora, trees and mountains all combined in one incredible and unique scene.
Given the circumstances, the composition was as good as it could possibly be and a hat tip to DJ for finding the perfect location. The accompanying photo is the result of a group effort to capture a solar event rarely seen by the naked eye in Tennessee.
Truly this was a Mother’s Day experience for the ages! We will always remember Friday, May 10, 2024, and have the image to show for it!
Thomas Mabry – Honey Badger Images
Many of the HoneyBadgerImages are on display at instagram.com/honeybadgerimages