Aurora Borealis from County Durham

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smoker said:
Imaged from Derwent Rezzie last night (22/1/2012).

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All shots - EOS10D, Samyang 14mm/f2.8, 30 secs at ISO800, dark frame subtracted in Photoshop. The camera was mounted on my car window using a Manfrotto Superclamp and 498RC4 ball head.

Some stunning shots of this storm from 65-67 north:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/northernlight/ :cool:
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they're class them smoker. By all accounts we've got the same tonight? going to see if I can get some decent shots.

Cheers for the exposure advice.
 
Nice one smokes.

Is there a forecast for tonight? The only sites I can see say 'low activity'. Can't have been low if it were visible all over the shop last night!
 
Icarebecauseyoudo said:
Nice one smokes.

Is there a forecast for tonight? The only sites I can see say 'low activity'. Can't have been low if it were visible all over the shop last night!
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Doesn't always follow matey. This one was related to a coronal mass ejection the other day and the material has probably moved on.

clyde said:
briefly caught them on seaham beach last night

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heading back out tonight, bit further up north though.
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Not bad at all that!
 
Horizon about 2 pixels out even at this resolution. Aurora watching has been seen as no defence in court before :p
 
Cracking stuff there lads. The wife and I want to see this for real and have being trying to organise it for a while, typical it happens on our door step in the UK while we are over here.

The wife has a plan to visit Iceland on the way back to the UK this year at Xmas so I we may have a chance to get something then.

Any tips on taking the best shots for these.
 
Blame Me said:
Cracking stuff there lads. The wife and I want to see this for real and have being trying to organise it for a while, typical it happens on our door step in the UK while we are over here.

The wife has a plan to visit Iceland on the way back to the UK this year at Xmas so I we may have a chance to get something then.

Any tips on taking the best shots for these.
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I've only imaged them once, but based on what I've picked up from other aurora imagers, my tip would be to use a wide/fast lens (eg 14mm/f2.8), one that is crisp at max aperture, and a camera with cleaner high ISOs. The aim has to be to keep exposure times as short as possible (a few seconds) or the details blur.

The Samyang 14mm is a decent enough lens at f2.8, but the 10D was noisy even with dark frame subtraction, which meant I had to keep ISO down and use a longer exposure.

Ole Salomonsen is the 'king' of Aurora Imagers, and one of the good folk who publishes his equipment and exposure details:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/salomonsen/

clyde said:
any chance of any activity this weekend then?
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Don't think so, but there was a massive CME yesterday which could result in aurorae on Monday/Tuesday.

Spaceweather.com:

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"Sunspot 1402 is rotating onto the far side of the sun, so the blast site was not facing Earth. Nevertheless, energetic protons accelerated by the blast are now surrounding our planet, and an S2-class radiation storm is in progress."
 
smoker said:
I've only imaged them once, but based on what I've picked up from other aurora imagers, my tip would be to use a wide/fast lens (eg 14mm/f2.8), one that is crisp at max aperture, and a camera with cleaner high ISOs. The aim has to be to keep exposure times as short as possible (a few seconds) or the details blur.

The Samyang 14mm is a decent enough lens at f2.8, but the 10D was noisy even with dark frame subtraction, which meant I had to keep ISO down and use a longer exposure.

Ole Salomonsen is the 'king' of Aurora Imagers, and one of the good folk who publishes his equipment and exposure details:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/salomonsen/



Don't think so, but there was a massive CME yesterday which could result in aurorae on Monday/Tuesday.

Spaceweather.com:

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"Sunspot 1402 is rotating onto the far side of the sun, so the blast site was not facing Earth. Nevertheless, energetic protons accelerated by the blast are now surrounding our planet, and an S2-class radiation storm is in progress."
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, looks like a new Nikkor lens, 14mm is out of my range at the moment, though I can hire as my mate does.

More research on the way but thanks anyway Smoker good info!
 
shit loads of cloud tonight, nee chance i reckon.

just got an alert to say its active tonight, however this cloud is killing any slight chance we have, ah well.
 
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