Aurora Australis at Flinders

[alexch]

Hi All,

I was testing motion control for time lapse at Flinders last night and caught a glimpse of Aurora (around 11pm AEST 2012-Jan-16). It continued later when the Noon was up but was washed out.

I kind of hoped it would show up based on the SWPC prediction (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/forecast.html) and did my test run in the Southern direction. The video is here (full screen with sound is recommended):
http://vimeo.com/35177757

I think I saw it visually but it was nothing spectacular (averted vision should not be required for Aurora). The long exposure images helped to bring it out.

Exposure parameters were 30 seconds, ISO 3200, 14mm f/2.8 with Nikon D700.

Cheers,
Alex

[Paul Haese]

What a nice time to catch an aurora. Never seen one in 37 years, but have my hopes for this winter. A really nice image too and the rare red colour makes for a nice look. Some faint curtaining in the aurora too.

[gregbradley]

Wow, that is awesome Alex. You must have been thrilled.

Greg.

[apaulo]

Great work Alex

Just watched your video, what a cracker.

Paul you will be surprised how many Auroras you can see from Flinders.
It is not as rare as you think.

Regards Paul.

[strongmanmike]

Great stuff big Rex :thumbsup:

I remember seeing something similar from Mt Stromlo back in 1985'sh it wasn't red but rather green white and quite faint and low to the southern horizon...it was deffinitely changing so I recognised it as an Aurora :)

Mike

[atalas]

Lovely work.

[Shark Bait]

Thankyou for sharing this. Sublime images.

[Forgey]

Very beautiful Alex !

[alexch]

Thanks for nice comments, everyone - much appreciated!!!

I must admit I was quite thrilled when I saw something red on the images :)

Alex

[alexch]

Here is one form the later display with Moonlight.

[ballaratdragons]

Well done Alex :thumbsup:

The good news is that as we start moving towards Solar Maximum we will get more and more opportunities for Aurora Australis :)

They will increase by the end of the year, and be even better next year. Next Solar Maximum (using the 11 year cycle) is predicted between 2012 and 2014 :)

[rogerg]

Spectacular :thumbsup:

So lucky to catch the Aurora too.

[SkyViking]

Awesome shot Alex, congratulations for catching this. I once saw the Aurora Borealis from Denmark and it was spectacular. Quite an experience with some enormous curtains of light appearing far up and behind the clouds which really gave it a nice 3D effect.

[Jen]

:thumbsup:what a catch Alex very nice, and i love how the twinkling music came into it right on time :D

[CoolhandJo]

Wow. Awesome stuff! Great capture. I saw this in Alaska but it was a deep green colour. This red is lovely!

[ballaratdragons]

I keep an eye on this map (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapS.gif) (you can just make out the bottom of Australia).

It is from Spaceweather (http://spaceweather.com/)

[alexch]

This (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/OverviewS.html) has been my homepage for last year :)

[ballaratdragons]

Excellent link thanks Alex. :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

That's terrific Alex :thumbsup:. I like the music sync to the curtains wave. Very Disney like ;)

[Ross G]

An amazing capture Alex.


Ross.