aurora Archives

March 24, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

This is What Can Happen When a CME Hits Earth

The size of Earth compared to sunspot AR1692 on March 15, 2013. Screenshot from the video by Göran Strand.

This video taken by Göran Strand from Östersund, Sweden shows what happened on March 17, 2013 when a Coronal Mass Ejection hit Earth’s magnetic field. Two days earlier, sunspot AR1692 had produced a M1-class solar flare that resulted in the CME that hit Earth.

This time lapse from an all-sky camera captures the magnificent sky show between 19:20 and 23:35 UT on the 17th.

Strand said via email that this time lapse consists of 2464 raw images for a total data amount of 30Gb from the 17th. The stunning photo of the Sun is a hydrogen alpha mosaic he made from 10 images that was captured on March 16.

Beautiful!

March 20, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Stunning Northern Norway Aurora

A panorama of eight images stitched together showing the aurora over the Rødsand-nordlys region of Norway on March 19, 2013. Credit and copyright: Frank Olsen.

Photographer Frank Olsen from Norway was feeling left out of the recent auroral activity from the Sun’s activity last Friday, as his region in northern Norway was socked in with clouds. “I really envied those Alaska guys that brought home amazing pictures,” he said on his Flickr page. But he was rewarded with an awesome view of the aurora last night (March 19, 2013) and took this beautiful panorama of 8 images. pictures. “A half moon lit up the sky just perfectly,” he said. “To the right, the small town of Sortland, and to the left the even smaller town of Stokmarknes. In between Langøya (long) island.” Click on the image to see a larger version, and Frank has a 20 MB version, too.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

March 12, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophotos: Beautiful Aurora Over Norway

Aurora seen from Nøss, Nordland in Norway, on March 4, 2013. Credit and copyright: Frank Olsen.

Photographer Frank Olsen from Norway heads out almost nightly this time of year to regularly see and photograph what many of us can only dream about seeing: beautiful, shimmering aurorae. These beautiful sights must be payback for enduring the long winters in northern Norway. You can see more of Frank’s beautiful imagery of aurora, the night sky and more at his Flickr page, his website (he has prints for sale) or his Facebook page.

More below:

Aurora seen in Roksøy, Norway. March 2013. Credit and copyright: Frank Olsen.

Aurora as seen over Nøss, Nordland in Norway, on March 4, 2013. Credit and copyright: Frank Olsen.

February 27, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Planet Aurora

A 'polar panoramic effect' view of the aurora in Finland on Feb. 9, 2013. Credit and copyright: Martin Stojanovski.

I love these ‘Polar Planet Effect‘ images, and this one is awesome. Photographer Martin Stojanovski traveled from Macedonia to Finland during an #AuroraTweetup event in early February 2013 to try and capture the aurora. And he really wanted to try doing one of these “planet” pictures.

“This was one of the photos that I really wanted to create on my aurora trip during #AuroraTweetup and it came together at last,” Martin said via email. “It is really hard to get the final result as the aurora is so dynamic (it changes every second) and also the night sky is difficult for stitching, but the end result came up great. That night Aurora was amazing, and it got really bright and colorful from time to time, as our guide said that night the best of the season.”

In this image the aurora stretches more than 120 degrees from side to side, and a faint glow go higher up towards zenith. It was created from 21 30-second exposures at f-4, 10mm ISO 1600. Image of the whole sky and foreground was taken at the Aurora Camp on Lake Inari in Finland.

He took some other great shots, too, like this one:

Aurora borealis over Lake Inari in Finland. Shot on 9th Feb. 2013 during #AuroraTweetup. Credit and copyright: Martin Stojanovski.

See more images from his trip at his website.

We featured another ‘Polar Planet’ image in our astrophotos of the full Moon yesterday.

January 30, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophotos: Northern Lights Over Iceland

Northern Lights from Osar, Iceland 1-19-2013. Credit and copyright: Jack Fusco.

Photographer Jack Fusco recently took a trip to Iceland, hoping to capture the unique Icelandic landscapes and night skies but ran into bad weather. “The weather wasn’t favorable for photography during the day and the skies completely cloud covered at night,” Jack said on Flickr, “and the last night I spent in Iceland was the only night that I was able to see the stars.” But what a night it was!

“I wasn’t completely sure what the Northern Lights would look like when I saw them, but when I first spotted them streaking across the sky I could hardly contain my excitement. I may not have gotten to photograph all of the spots that I had hoped, but on this night, for me, I felt like I truly had found something incredible,” he said, and the experience reminded him of Carl Sagan’s words, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

The Northern Lights fill the Icelandic Sky - 1-20-2013. Credit and copyright: Jack Fusco. — The Northern Lights fill the Icelandic Sky on 1-20-2013. Credit and copyright: Jack Fusco.

December 30, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Dancing Polar Auroras Captured by Thierry Legault

Aurora over Komagfjord, Norway (northern end of Scandinavia, 70°N). Credit and Copyright: Thierry Legault. Used by permission

One of our favorite astrophotographers, Thierry Legault from France, took a trip to Finland and Norway so he could see and photograph the Northern Lights for the first time. Socked in with clouds in Finland, Thierry traveled to the Alta region in Norway to find clear skies. “We were rewarded with incredible auroras,” he said via Skype. “At moments, the auroras moved like curtains in the wind, too fast to be photographed!”

See below for a stunning video compilation of two nights of observing the Northern Lights over the Kamagfjord in Norway, as well as more gorgeous images of aurora and a view of the fjord in the “twilight” of midday, since there was no sunrise that far north for several days in December.

Aurora and clouds over Komagfjord in Norway, December 2012. Credit and Copyright: Thierry Legault. Used by permission.

Stunning aurora Komagfjord in Norway, December 2012. Credit and copyright: Thierry Legault. Used by permission.

Fisheye view of the aurora in Norway, December 2012. Credit and copyright: Thierry Legault. Used by permission

Komagfjord at midday (no sunrise in December). Credit and copyright: Thierry Legault. Used by perission

While this was Thierry’s first-ever view of the Aurora Borealis, we can expect this won’t be his last. “I am becoming addicted,” he said, “just like with eclipses!”

See the full set of Thierry’s images of his aurora expedition to Norway and Finland on his website, and we extend our thanks to Theirry for continuing to share his wonderful images with us.

December 13, 2012January 4, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Timelapse: Incredible Northern Lights from the Arctic Circle

Shot from the Arctic Circle in Canada, this beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis will put you in the holiday mood (I’m sure Santa’s workshop is just beyond one of those mountains in the background!) National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss said the northern lights started around 11:30pm and continued on until around 3am. “The lights were dancing, rolling and twisting and at times looked like they were close enough to touch,” he said.

Just beautiful.

Read more about his Arctic Circle adventure here.

October 15, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Weekend Aurora Gives Time for ‘Reflection’

The Northern Lights over Kilmany, Scotland reflect in a body of water. Credit: Corinne Mills

Wow, what a gorgeous view of the aurora in Scotland over the weekend, taken by astrophotographer Corine Mills! This image garnered dozens of rave reviews on Flickr, and rightly so. A solar wind stream struck Earth’s magnetic field over the weekend, igniting a G1-class geomagnetic storm that lasted more than 15 hours, according to SpaceWeather.com. Auroras with rare pulsations and vibrant colors were sighted in the northern latitudes. Below is an almost psychedelic “purple haze” aurora as seen over Saskatchewan, Canada.

Continue reading “Weekend Aurora Gives Time for ‘Reflection’”

October 13, 2012April 8, 2018 by Nancy Atkinson

Frost, Fire and Northern Lights in Iceland

Northern lights over the Jökulsárlón glacial lake in Iceland on September 19, 2012. Credit: Jean-Luc Dauvergne

Iceland is a land of stark beauty and extremes in both weather and landscape. But its also a place to see some of the most spectacular views of northern lights. Jean-Luc Dauvergne a journalist from Ciel Et Espace, a French astronomy magazine, recently traveled to Iceland and said in an email to Universe Today, “I think that this incredible place may be one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world to do photography with northern lights.” After seeing a view like this one at the Jökulsárlón Lagoon, on September 19, 2012 at the height of auroral activity, Dauvergne will likely return to Iceland again. “The weather was nearly perfect. And I saw northern lights every night What luck!”

He sent us another image of northern lights taken beside a US Navy DC3 “Dakota” that crashed in Icelandic South Coast in bad weather in 1973, which is located in the Solheimasondur area at the foot of the famous Eyjafjallajökull volcano that erupted in 2010, along with a video he created from his travels to Iceland.

Northern lights in Iceland on Sept. 20, 2012. Credit: Jean-Luc Dauvergne

You can see more of Dauvergne’s images at http://astrophotography.fr/

The travel bureau from Iceland should consider using this video that Dauvergne created in order to advertise the great experiences one can have in this country. First in the video is Gulfoss, the “Golden Falls”, a 70 meter wide waterfall; then a geyser, named “Geysir” which the biggest geyser in the world after those in Yellowstone National Park in the US; then is the Vatnajökull area , the biggest glacier in Europe. “The most impressive place is the Jökulsárlón where the glacier arrive in a lake that communicates with the ocean,” said Dauvergne

Frost, Fire and Northern Lights in Iceland from Jean-Luc Dauvergne on Vimeo.

October 9, 2012April 26, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Last Night’s View: Skies Filled with Stunning Aurora

The Aurora Borealis fills nearly the entire sky in Cleary Summit, Alaska. Credit: Jason Ahrns on Flickr.

With just a glancing blow from a coronal mass ejection (CME) this week, skywatchers in the northern latitudes have been enjoying some beautiful views of the Aurora Borealis. Here are a few stunning views from last night (October 8-9, 2012), including this jaw-dropping aurora that filled the entire sky for Jason Ahrns in Cleary Summit, Alaska. “This lens has a near-180 degree field of view from corner to corner – this swirl covered the entire sky, and put off enough light to read the focus indicator on my lens,” Jason wrote on Flickr.

See more below:

This view is from Kilmany, Scotland. “You could see the rays moving left – so stunning,” said photographer Corinne Mills.

This view came from the AuroraMAX camera in Yellowknife, NWT taken at 00:53 MDT on October 9, 2012. Credit: AuroraMAX.

“I’ve been tracking aurora activity all day and it peaked again tonight,” writes photographer Gareth Paxton on Flickr. “There was a substantial glow in the sky – this was taken from Linlithgow (Scotland).”

Northern lights over Ottawa, Canada. Credit: FailedProtostar on Flickr.

Stunning view from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Credit: Colin Chatfield.

Another beauty by Jason Arhns in Alaska, which he calls a “ghost flame.” Credit: Jason Arhns

Green aurora over Ulverston, Cumbria, UK. Credit: Raymond Gilchrist on Flickr.