Aurora - The Northern Lights

Aurora - The Northern Lights

Bill Kramer 2001

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Aurora are caused by charged particles hitting the Earth's magnetosphere and appear as clouds of light in the polar regions of the sky. In central Ohio the color is typically green or just a pale ghostly white glow. But every so often the colors are more varied and it can be very bright.

An aurora can last just a few minutes or several hours. Solar storms cause an eruption of particles into space and when these explosions are directed towards Earth, there is a good chance an aurora will be visible. You cannot count on an aurora. At best an aurora forcast will let you know that there is an increased probability of an aurora occurring. To learn more about the Sun and recent solar events of importance, please visit http://www.spaceweather.com.

Photographing an aurora
The equipment requirements are a camera, a tripod, and cable release (a time delay will suffice).
Find a dark place with a clear view of the aurora, then point the camera and hold it open for 5 to 30 seconds.
The results will be very pleasing!

The following images are from those lucky nights when I've had a camera ready and the sky has put on a show.

October 30, 2003 Trick or Treat Night

The early evening of October 30, 2003 was "Trick or Treat" night in Dublin Ohio and it was an unusually warm and clear night. While showing views of the moon through a 5" to the trick-r-treaters an aurora appeared across the northern sky. It was about 50 degrees high in the sky and bright. Several bright streamers were seen in shades of pink and green but the majority of the aurora was red. After the trick-r-treats were finished I did manage to get a couple of photographs using the Kodak DC265 on a tripod. The best exposures were 10 to 15 seconds even though the upper left corner of the image shows extreme thermal problems (most of the bad area was trimmed in these images). By the time I was able to get to these pictures most of the aurora was a bright red glow in the North West sky. Some sheet structure can be seen. The stars visible just above the pine tree top are the handle of the big dipper.

More images: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4

November 5th, 2001
On the 4th of November a large Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) had taken place in conjunction with an X-ray solar flare, pointed right at the path of Earth. At 10 pm Eastern time I was outside my house observing with my telescope and by luck I just happened to look in the right direction as a bright red streak grew in the NW. It had a magenta hue to it and was growing quickly. After alerting others in the house hold that a rare event was taking place, and that I didn't know how long it would last, I got a camera ready. The following are various images of that evening's aurora - it was simply the best I've ever seen! There was a bright green halo around the northern horizon and curtains of magenta, red, pearly white, and yellow slowly dancing about in the sky.

Canon Rebel SLR with 28 mm Lens on tripod

10" Telescope sits idle
Closer View (384x258)
Red Stream above telescope through Lyra (400x600)
Bright red whisps through Lyra
Color was red and magenta in this region near Vega
Near Cassiopea (600x400)
Yellow and red streams around Taurus (600x400)

Green halo around north horizon with dancing yellow and red streamers

Both Fuji and Kodak film were used for the above pictures. Exposres ranged from 15 seconds to 1 minute.

Kodak DC 265 - Exposure 10 to 16 seconds
Green northern halo and red/magenta curtains (320x200)
Looking NWN with wide angle
Image C, Image D, Image E, Image F,
Higher resolution image (1152x768)
The Moon Rises while the show continues

Click on the above image for larger view
End of the Show, looking North (535x449)