After the most recent northern lights could be seen in November 2004 over
Germany, the next event already took place in January 2005.
From the very complex sunspot NOAA 10720 on 2005/01/20 a very powerful class
X7.1 x-ray flare erupted at 07:02 UTC. Besides the hardest radiation storm since
1989, showing an exceptional high number of high-energy protons, a full-halo
coronal mass ejection was observed.
The particle cloud from this mass ejection impacted earth on 2005/01/21 at 17:11
UTC. The resulting geomagnetic storm brought bright northern lights down to
northern and central Germany as well as Denmark, the Netherlands and also down
to Hungary.
My own observations of the Aurora borealis on the evening of 2005 January 21
took place in Mainz-Bretzenheim. It once more suffered from clouds moving into
the area and the light pollution of Mainz.
The northern lights on the evening of January 21 could be observed in multiple
substorms. I was able to observe the first and strongest one:
1st substorm: 18:50 - 19:35 UTC (rays and curtain)
2nd substorm: 22:30 - 22:50 UTC (not observed by myself)
Here are my pictures, all taken in Mainz-Bretzenheim (49.98°North, 8.23°East).
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