View Single Post
  #1  
Old 24-02-2014, 02:59 PM
pluto's Avatar
pluto (Hugh)
Astro Noob

pluto is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Sydney
Posts: 1,982
Aurora Australis from NZ / EDIT: added timelapse

I've just returned from a couple of weeks driving around the south island of NZ and the highlight has to have been a surprise viewing of the aurora from Lake Tekapo.

I say surprise because it was cloudy most of the trip, plus the days are so long, plus the moon was only 2 days past full, and as a result of all this I really hadn't planned on traveling anywhere specifically to catch the aurora.

Anyway we were at Lake Tekapo and all day my "Aurora Buddy" app had been telling me the kp-index was around 6 so, with a mostly clear sky, I rushed out when the sky was almost dark (at about 10pm!) and started shooting.

It lasted a bit over an hour starting off with pinkish streaks that were just visible, then changing to quite bright pink/purple streaks and blobs and then, towards the end, changed to faint green swirly/streaky things.


I have some timelapse stuff which I'll post when I have some time but here are some stills.

More, bigger and better quality ones on my blog here: http://hughsblog.wordpress.com/2014/...ora-australis/

EDIT: short timelapse here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA5LxjDG3Yg (make sure you choose HD)
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (IMG_9692_sm.jpg)
181.5 KB124 views
Click for full-size image (IMG_9708_sm.jpg)
189.1 KB122 views
Click for full-size image (IMG_9711_sm.jpg)
195.0 KB117 views
Click for full-size image (IMG_9748_sm.jpg)
175.6 KB101 views

Last edited by pluto; 24-02-2014 at 04:48 PM.
Reply With Quote