I spent some time bayside Melbourne last night (Black Rock) having a nice pizza for dinner in the hope of seeing some aurora australis. Kp index was high and Bz pointing south were promising indicators. Couldn't see anything obvious to the south (even on camera's screen!), but there were some suggestions of flickering movements within the light polluted sky background.
However, I had a very pleasant surprise when I looked at the images on my computer this morning....my camera had recorded some red and violet colours and beams! Canon40D, 14mm lens at f/2.8, ISO800, 30secs.
This my first sighting of the aurora australis from the Melbourne area since 2005. Not spectacular, but a promise of better to come! Roll on solar max!
Three images are attached - the last is a time lapse of 4 individual frames showing the aurora, trailled stars and a fishing boat moving to a better? location. The small patch of light mid frame is the small Magellanic Cloud.
It shows best in the first two images. Gets a bit washed out in the third but its still there
For anyone that says its just glow from the cityscape, look to the right hand side and you'll see the faint vertical shafts. Then you'll notice them almost all the way across
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrB
Nice!
How does one get advanced warning of these events?
Spaceweather is a good source: http://www.spaceweather.com/
and look at the Southern Hemisphere/Antarctica maps.
and here is the current map showing that Melbourne (and me up here) have a bit of a chance of seeing the edge of the Aurora tonight: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapS.gif
Many thanks for taking the time to view and post comments.
Clear skies.
Russ
Quote:
Originally Posted by ballaratdragons
Spaceweather is a good source: http://www.spaceweather.com/
and look at the Southern Hemisphere/Antarctica maps.
and here is the current map showing that Melbourne (and me up here) have a bit of a chance of seeing the edge of the Aurora tonight: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapS.gif
Thanks, Ken. That's exactly the information I use. Furthermore, solar particles arrive at the Earth generally 1-2 days after explosion from the Sun. That's when I start to look more closely at the spaceweather.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moon
Wonderful Russ - everyone is on high alert now!
James
Cheers, James. I hope to present more aurora images in future as solar activity rises towards max.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Wastell
Fascinating! I have never seen such events - to see them in Melbourne is awesome!
So I take it that it is worth a look tonight (sunday) here in Melb?
Looks like a chance Davo.
Try find a viewing location with none or little light in the south (you should be OK at your location I think) and just sit and watch for hours
Well done Russ. Great capture. Looking forward to the next few years and this becomes more frequent.
So, what's Kp and Bz?
Cheers,
Af.
re Kp and Bz; without wanting to get too technical, they are measures of how the Earth's magnetic field is being disturbed by charged particles ejected by the Sun. Kp of 5 and above is highly disturbed and is indicative of unusually high levels of solar particles passing by. Bz pointing south allows these charged particles to follow Earth's magnetic field lines towards the poles - a condition very conducive to auroras. www.spaceweather.com has more info.
then scroll down and on the left you will see a small 'Current Auroral Oval' map of the North Pole showing where the Aurora is.
Underneath the map you will see links to 'New Zealand' & 'Antarctica'. Click on either one and it will change the image in the small map to South Pole view. Once it has changed, click on the map itself and it should open up the one you can't open in here.
Must keep an eye on spaceweather from now on. Would love to see one in Melb.
Clear skies
Reg
G'day Reg. In view of the Sun's activity rising steadily, hopefully it won't be too long before we see a bright and really colourful display. Keep looking at spaceweather.com from time to time and watch the south for glows and moving lights. You might be lucky.
fantastic Russ - i would love to have the opportunity to get one of these. Congratulations.
I took the liberty of having a process of your stacked image. Russ you need to have a go at reprocessing your Raw data again as you can get a lot more out of the images to show this a bit better and also reduce the noise of both the camera and not enough signal. it is really a ribbon of rainbow light - awesome shots and what an opportunity
Thanks h0ughy for taking the time to comment. Much appreciated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by h0ughy
fantastic Russ - i would love to have the opportunity to get one of these. Congratulations.
Hopefully your opportunity will not take too long to arrive - thinking about moving south?
Quote:
Originally Posted by h0ughy
I took the liberty of having a process of your stacked image. Russ you need to have a go at reprocessing your Raw data again as you can get a lot more out of the images to show this a bit better and also reduce the noise of both the camera and not enough signal. it is really a ribbon of rainbow light - awesome shots and what an opportunity .
Cheers Mate. No worries at all - you're very welcome to do that, with my compliments. And you've brought out some detail that was hidden in the sky brightness, too. In fact you raise an important point - how far should we go with our processing? I have to say, I'm constantly torn between realism and art when I'm tweeking images. I deliberately set the black point at a high level (50 or so) to better reflect the sky conditions at the time because the skies above this 4 million populated metropolis aren't, well, to be honest......dark! I could (should?) have gone further, but I just wanted to give the viewer a realistic impression of the scene - even though the aurora wasn't clearly defined to my eyes and the colours, certainly not, the camera showed it was there nevertheless. I'll consider uploading two versions next time to express the range of processing options available. Thanks again for your comments, mate. Clear skies. Russ
I deliberately set the black point at a high level (50 or so) to better reflect the sky conditions at the time because the skies above this 4 million populated metropolis aren't, well, to be honest......dark! I could (should?) have gone further, but I just wanted to give the viewer a realistic impression of the scene - even though the aurora wasn't clearly defined to my eyes and the colours, certainly not, the camera showed it was there nevertheless. I'll consider uploading two versions next time to express the range of processing options available. Thanks again for your comments, mate. 
