colinmlegg
01-07-2013, 12:27 PM
Hi,
I was fortunate to get a few pics of the aurora Saturday night, from the south west corner of WA. Many thanks to Alex Cherney for his initial message that prompted me to look at my phone and Greg Gibbs for on the spot reports from the top of Mt Buffalo.
I posted a small blurb of my Saturday afternoon/evening journey on FB, so hope you don't mind me repeating it here. Written in the excitement of the moment :)
------------------------------------------------------------------
The curse of the aurora. Once bitten, forever infected
2.00 pm Saturday afternoon. I've just had a nice walk along the beach and lunch at Cottesloe with friends when I check my iphone. Alert city! A KP 7 aurora has erupted and all hell is breaking loose. What to do? First I check the weather. Beautiful clear skies in Perth, but cloud along the south coast till Albany. 5 hours to Albany, so that's out. The south west corner looks better, but only at the very north tip around Cape Naturaliste. So I quickly pack the Troopy and head south. 3 hours later I'm there just on end of astro twilight. Greg Gibbs has just texted me saying he's getting a great view from the top of Mt Buffalo, so I race down to Sugarloaf rock, set up the camera (at some random location pointing south) and take a shot. Nothing! Hmm, iphone is telling me the numbers have dropped and my camera has confirmed it. So I wander around for awhile looking for a better composition. Hard to find in the dark, while jumping jagged rocks and avoiding being washed out to sea. 7.16 pm, I take another test shot. IT'S THERE!!
This is the view at 7.31 pm, Sugarloaf Rock rocks, 33.56 degrees south at KP 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I was fortunate to get a few pics of the aurora Saturday night, from the south west corner of WA. Many thanks to Alex Cherney for his initial message that prompted me to look at my phone and Greg Gibbs for on the spot reports from the top of Mt Buffalo.
I posted a small blurb of my Saturday afternoon/evening journey on FB, so hope you don't mind me repeating it here. Written in the excitement of the moment :)
------------------------------------------------------------------
The curse of the aurora. Once bitten, forever infected
2.00 pm Saturday afternoon. I've just had a nice walk along the beach and lunch at Cottesloe with friends when I check my iphone. Alert city! A KP 7 aurora has erupted and all hell is breaking loose. What to do? First I check the weather. Beautiful clear skies in Perth, but cloud along the south coast till Albany. 5 hours to Albany, so that's out. The south west corner looks better, but only at the very north tip around Cape Naturaliste. So I quickly pack the Troopy and head south. 3 hours later I'm there just on end of astro twilight. Greg Gibbs has just texted me saying he's getting a great view from the top of Mt Buffalo, so I race down to Sugarloaf rock, set up the camera (at some random location pointing south) and take a shot. Nothing! Hmm, iphone is telling me the numbers have dropped and my camera has confirmed it. So I wander around for awhile looking for a better composition. Hard to find in the dark, while jumping jagged rocks and avoiding being washed out to sea. 7.16 pm, I take another test shot. IT'S THERE!!
This is the view at 7.31 pm, Sugarloaf Rock rocks, 33.56 degrees south at KP 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------