Aurora

  As said in the last post, we had a spectacular aurora last night. It started with a green glow and a few 'curtains' which then transformed in to a single line across the sky from the east to the western horizon. If it hadn't been for the fact it was green, it could have been mistaken for a very wide jet vapor trail. This then changed in to a sort of rosette almost immediately above the house with long streamers hanging down in all directions. Gradually, almost the whole of the northern half of the sky turned green and then over in the east a narrow column of red and pink appeared. This then also grew. I think in future I'll set up two cameras, one to take time lapse and the other to just take single pictures. Last night, there was so much going on and there were so many possibilities for trying to get images, one camera wasn't enough - time to dust off the 40D I think.

 The pictures below don't do it justice or convey the 'out of this world' experience, I had hoped to put up a short avi (video) of it, but for some reason the pc just won't process it this time. The pictures were taken using a tripod, 30 seconds exposure @ f5, ISO800, 10mm wide angle lens. The last one is 174 images 'stacked together using 'Startrails' - I'm not too happy with the result but very happy to get the opportunity !........................

'First light'

 

174 'stacked' images

  From looking on the internet, here in the UK it was visible at least as far south as Northumberland. With more auroras forecast, I'll certainly be looking skywards. Last night I turned in sometime after midnight as it had clouded over, so was very surprised this morning to see a relatively clear sky at sunrise - and what a sunrise it was (but it didn't last). I grabbed the camera just as it was coming up over towards Balta Isle at 7am....................

         Robbie