Any far (FAR!!!) northern astronomical societies??
Hi all
I'd like to know if anyone is familiar with or even knows any amateur astronomical clubs or societies up and around the arctic circle - such as in Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Canada or somewhere in Scandinavia.
I'd like to know if anyone is familiar with or even knows any amateur astronomical clubs or societies up and around the arctic circle - such as in Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Canada or somewhere in Scandinavia.
TIA
Ooh, are you thinking aurora Chris? I will carry your suitcase if so, it is one of my dreams to see the stunning aurora that occurs in the northern hemisphere....... dream,dream, dream.
That's one aspect of my current thought processes Liz, yes. I'm looking at establishing a far-northern connection with a Finnish club for MAS, and forming a sister club relationship. Their amateur astronomy experience in the higher latitudes is about as different to ours that I think is possible, short of us relocating to Mars.
I'd very much like to emulate what ASAW have successfully done in Albury/Wodonga with their link to the Cape Fear society in North Carolina: http://www.capefearastro.org/asaw.htm
Given that a few of us at MAS are off to Hawaii in the near future, I'd like to take the same group and go to Finland the year after to experience decent aurorae for ourselves. You're most welcome to come along!
I'd like to know if anyone is familiar with or even knows any amateur astronomical clubs or societies up and around the arctic circle - such as in Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Canada or somewhere in Scandinavia.
Not sure about amateurs, but my brother has done astronomy on some island a few hundred miles north of Norway and is now working on a radio telescope in Finland... and I think he even did something in Sweden some time back too...
Given that a few of us at MAS are off to Hawaii in the near future, I'd like to take the same group and go to Finland the year after to experience decent aurorae for ourselves. You're most welcome to come along!
An APOD back in May. What I'd give, to be able to capture this...
Quote:
A Starry Night of Iceland
Credit: Stephane Vetter (Nuits sacrees)
Explanation: On some nights, the sky is the best show in town. On this night, the sky was not only the best show in town, but a composite image of the sky won an international competition for landscape astrophotography. The above winning image was taken two months ago over Jökulsárlón, the largest glacial lake in Iceland. The photographer combined six exposures to capture not only two green auroral rings, but their reflections off the serene lake. Visible in the distant background sky is the band of our Milky Way Galaxy, the Pleiades open clusters of stars, and the Andromeda galaxy. A powerful coronal mass ejection from the Sun caused auroras to be seen as far south as Wisconsin, USA. As the Sun progresses toward solar maximum in the next few years, many more spectacular images of aurora are expected.
OMG!! How amazing to witness something like that, and would be easy to capture, without all that computerized gear. Camera on the tripod is what I do best.
That's fabulous - thank you! 
