Bright red and purple Aurora Australis video

[alexch (Alex)]

Hi All,

January 22nd-23rd was another lucky night at Flinders on Mornington Peninsula, bright Aurora going on virtually non-stop the whole night. It was a treat visually too with grey columns of light moving across the southern horison.

Viewing in full screen mode with sound is recommended.

http://vimeo.com/35630244

30 second exposures at f/2.8 and ISO3200 got a lot of colour in and I was surprised to see how much stronger the reds were with modded Sony NEX5 (last segment in the time lapse) compared to standard Nikon D700. The colour balance seems reasonably correct judging by the star colours.

There was very nice purple at the beginning of the night when Aurora was the strongest.

Apparently the colour of the aurora depends on which atom is struck by solar wind, and the altitude of the meeting.

Green - oxygen, up to 150 miles in altitude
Red - oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude
Blue - nitrogen, up to 60 miles in altitude
Purple/violet - nitrogen, above 60 miles in altitude

( from science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/question471.htm )

Cheers,
Alex

[DavidU (Dave)]

Wow ! Top stuff Alex

[RobF (Rob)]

Love the moon rising sequence half way through. Thought it was sunrise at first and wondered how you'd kept the Milky Way visible

Amazing aurorae. Would be great to see one one day....

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Hi, Alex.

Thanks for that great view.
Michael Mattiazzo in Castlemaine Victoria aslo captured this one the 22nd.

Cheers,
Justin.

[rat156]

Stunning Alex.

I've been looking for an aurora for the last couple of nights, but no success.

Cheers
Stuart

[multiweb (Marc)]

Well done Alex. Splendid shots and awesome timelapse.

[Peter Ward]

Masterful as usual Alex.

[iceman (Mike)]

Stunning work Alex, beautiful!

[MortonH]

Wonderful pictures!

[Forgey (Paula)]

Beautiful work Alex

[h0ughy (David)]

OMG that first shot is stunning - once again

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Top candidate for IIS "Video of the Month".

[Phil Hart]

nice alex! but you're making me look pretty silly for travelling to the other side of the world where aurora is common, but so are the clouds!

great demonstration of the difference between airglow and aurora too

Phil

[gregbradley]

Fantastic work Alex.

Greg.

[alexch (Alex)]

Thanks everyone for nice comments! It was my first visual Aurora on January 22nd and I am very thrilled. Two years watching the Aurora forecasts and tools paid off!

[alexch (Alex)]

Originally Posted by philiphart

nice alex! but you're making me look pretty silly for travelling to the other side of the world where aurora is common, but so are the clouds!

great demonstration of the difference between airglow and aurora too

Phil

Thanks Phil. I am sure the clear weather gods will be kind in to you and you'll come back with some amazing footage. Can't wait to see it.

How are you going with the Dynamic Perception dolly?

Cheers,
Alex

[sheeny (Al)]

That's gorgeous Alex! The photos are great for the stars but the video is what does the aurora justice!

Al.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Another masterpiece That's surely an amazing video, congratulations on capturing this beautiful view so well.

[Phil Hart]

Originally Posted by alexch

How are you going with the Dynamic Perception dolly?

Cheers,
Alex

I've unpacked it.. that's a start isn't it?

Been working through a lot of gear issues.. mainly with power supplies and my alt-az mount. getting that under control so the DP dolly should be next!

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Absolutely awesome unique capture! Great skill in this. Well done!