Northern Lights from the beach last night

caorach

Well-Known Member
I've been playing with some timelapse and this is the view last night.

In a way it is a little ironic as I was salmon fishing during the day and had clear skies and not a minute of cloud shadow to move a fish for me. Then I put the camera out and the view is part blocked by cloud! To add to this I was a few miles away during the best part of the display in the early evening and the skies were perfectly clear. Even so it still gives a taste of Hebridean aurora:



This is a photo of the salmon fishing, just to highlight the problem :)

 
I believe it was stunning here too, I missed it

Yes it was very, very strong and bright but the peak was brief and probably only lasted 30 minutes or less so if you weren't out and about or looking for it then it was easy to miss.

There is a very high probability (80%) of a repeat performance tonight so anyone wanting to see it needs to get out and look. Here's what you need to know:

You need dark skies - go somewhere away from town lights if you can.

You need good clear skies - you can't see it if you have clouds.

You need dark adapted eyes - looking out the kitchen window during a commercial break in Emerdale is unlikely to work for you, as stalkers we all know it can take a long time for your eyes to adapt to the dark.

You need to be looking when it is happening - as we saw last night the peak was of very limited duration so you need to put a little effort in by staying out and looking. A friend wanted to spend £7k going to Alaska to see it as he told me he had to see it before he died. I phoned him one night to say he could see it from his back garden but he announced he was watching something on TV and couldn't be bothered going out.

It can be quite subtle and often isn't like in the Disney movies there will, for example, be no music or sound effects - don't laugh as I once rang a friend to tell her the sky was going mad and she went out to look but reported that there was nothing happening. When I put her over it several times, with her reporting that there was nothing at all happening in the sky, she eventually did say "oh, and the sky is bright green which is a bit strange."
 
Looked for it here but saw nothing, missed it but I am fortunate enough to have seen them quite a few times ,some friends on the west coast had a spectacular display, looks like it will be clear tonight so might have a peak again.
 
I've seen it before a few times but it is so different each time, out tonight so I might see it this time
 
What a beautiful place and stunning effect - lucky man, hardly a footprint on the beach.
 
Been trying to see it, but, to date, nada. My grandson saw it, but, perhaps I go to be too early - 2330 - 0000.

What time do the lights get started?
 
around midnight the sky was greenish with a light shimmer ,at 5.00 ish it was still showing ,olso the old moon with venus nearby along with orion , made for a great morning sky
 
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