Picture of Northern Lights

farmer7

Well-Known Member
I've not seen the Northern Lights for over 10 years, mostly due to cloud or full moon or the like, anyway I was along in the shed and saw them start to appear tonight so i shot home grabbed my SLR and got the first picture of them I've ever managed to take! Was really quite something to see, best display I've ever seen here!
Couple of pictures here:




 
I am well envios , been to a fair few places including alaska hoping to catch a sight ! They are cracking photos , how long did they last ,
 
You Jammy Bugger! :D
That is wonderful, would loved to have seen that. Read in News that they have been visible as far south as Norfolk. Nothing in West Yorks :cry:.

Yorkie.
 
Stunning photos well done and thanks for sharing. I was lucky enough to see them a few years back whilst out lamping and its an awesome sight.
 
You Jammy Bugger! :D
That is wonderful, would loved to have seen that. Read in News that they have been visible as far south as Norfolk. Nothing in West Yorks :cry:.

Yorkie.
No sign of them in south yorks. Saw them in Aberdeenshire about seven years ago,according to the locals it was the first time for eighteen years,they're a wonderful thing to see.Brilliant photos Farmer7 thanks.
 
I don't believe it! Just driven down from up your area this evening after a couple of days helping my mate at the does, and missed it!!!!! :doh:
 
Some fab displays tonight, with some spectacular photos coming from Lewis. In saying that I'm much further south than that tonight and managed to photograph them even with city lights. The display seems to have subsided a little but may not be over yet so if you want to see them get out there and take a look. Find the darkest skies you can and let your eyes adjust to the darkness. There is no point in just glancing out the window as you'll see nothing. The probability is that you will see them in the north and the further south you are the more likely it is that all you will see is a bit of a green glow along the northern horizon but even so it is worth a look.

With the possibility of a Maunder Minimum coming and with us approaching the end of the current solar cycle this might be the last chance any of us will have to see them in our lifetimes.
 
Excellent photos . As you might guess , the northern lights are seen here quite a lot , but I've never seen them with that much red coloration in them, that is unusual .

AB
 
thats excellent , thanks for sharing. I would like to see them one day, I just have to arrange a holiday some where cold and very northern
 
Nice pics. A rare opportunity for most of us. However, my wife & I did see them a couple of years ago while on a flight returning from the US..it was pretty spectacular, but just green, no other colouration at all. ATB
 
fantastic photos.

I like some have been lucky to see them, but it was away back in the early 80's i was on a medicine man 5 exercise in Batus Alberta canada and it was awesome.

bob.
 
thats excellent , thanks for sharing. I would like to see them one day, I just have to arrange a holiday some where cold and very northern

I'd intended to add the link to this picture taken at Callanish on Lewis but forgot so here it is:

The Northern Lights - colincameronphotography

A lot of people say this but the truth is that there are parts of the UK that are as far north as Canada and Alaska plus the Northern Lights is a pretty variable event. So, spending thousands on a trip to Alaska, while it might be fun, is not always the best way to see the lights as you might get there to find there is no sun activity plus your trip is likely only to be a week or two and the chances of it coinciding with a display is slim. People do go to Alaska, Canada, Norway and other places and see the lights but you rarely hear about all those who go and see nothing.

A friend who had declared that he wanted to see the lights before he dies and who was intending to spend thousands on a trip to Alaska was too busy watching TV when I phoned him one night to say that there was a great display going on over his back garden!! This gives some idea of the power of the marketing that tells us that we need to spend money and travel thousands of miles to see aurora.

The other side to this is that the current solar cycle has been very weak and it is possible we might enter a Maunder Minimum which means we might have little or no chance of seeing aurora for several generations to come. Under these circumstances it would be unwise to spend a lot of cash to try and see something that no one can see, and that no one is going to see for many years.

The downward edge of a solar cycle often produces the best displays and the sunspot that gave us the display last night is still active and still has potential to put on an even better show, if we get lucky. Given this the next 10 days might have as good a chance as any other time in, literally, the next 300 years. Also the period up until next Winter/Spring has potential. Actually predicting when, or the time of night, it just impossible and the best thing you can do is watch the magnotometer and see if it deviates dramatically and then get out to a local area with dark skies:

AuroraWatch UK

Or take a look at the Dollag's Cottage web page for all the info, Lewis had a spectacular display last night:

Dollag's Cottage aurora and northern lights page
 
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Watched them last night while out lamping , made the night even though I never saw any eyes in the lamp. The military were doing an exercise last night also, the flares were quite bright themselves.
 
Saw them several times as a boy in the North east of Scotland, saw them in the western isles 2001 or 2002

Best display I ever saw was here west Perthshire sometime in the 1990s while out lamping with a lad from Yorkshire first time he had seen them I think, lasted for ages and multi coloured, all the previous times I have seen them they were green.


Watched for them last night but no show here I'm afraid.
 
I've not seen the Northern Lights for over 10 years, mostly due to cloud or full moon or the like, anyway I was along in the shed and saw them start to appear tonight so i shot home grabbed my SLR and got the first picture of them I've ever managed to take! Was really quite something to see, best display I've ever seen here!
Couple of pictures here:





They are fantastic. My son was in Tromso at the weekend and didn't see anything as good as that.
 
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