Lmst

Dragon's Tongue

Strong #aurora in bands and spikes across a star-studded sky.
On the silhouetted horizon, trees and a power pylon show scale.

Early November, Egilsstaðir¹ in eastern #Iceland.

¹ 𝘼𝙮-𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘴-𝘴𝘵𝘢-𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘳

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#AuroraTuesday #NorthernLights #AuroraBorealis

A colour photo of a night sky filled with an uncountable number of stars. Strong curved green bands of aurora stretch across the image, but most of the stars still shine through. Just to the right of centre, two spikes of aurora are joined by a stripe, resembling a green forked tongue. On the dark horizon a distant arc of aurora is highlighting a stand of trees and a power support structure. Many of the bands of aurora have subtle spikes of stronger colour within them.
It's gorgeous.

Stars And Stripes

Through a gap in the clouds, the aurora is dancing.

Even the drizzle of a November night can't dampen the beauty of the green ballerina's display.

Berufjörður in eastern #Iceland.

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#AuroraTuesday #NorthernLights #AuroraBorealis #AstroPhotography

A colour photo of the night sky, with heavy cloud around three sides except for a gap at the bottom. Many stars are visible, including the Pleiades. Through the centre of the shot is a bright green band of diagonal aurora, streaked and striated.

Shining Through

Above the town of Egilsstaðir¹ in eastern #Iceland, the show is beginning.

Amongst the many visible stars there is part of Ursa Major (Great Bear, Plough or Big Dipper) in the upper right and Corona Borealis (The Northern Crown) which looks like a smiley face is centre left.

¹ 𝘼𝙞-𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴-𝘴𝘵𝘢-𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘳

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#AuroraTuesday #NorthernLights #aurora #AuroraBorealis #LandscapePhotography #AstroPhotography #AtOptics

A colour photo of the night sky with stars. In the bottom left of the shot is a collection of bright streetlights indicating a sizeable town. Rising from the dark hills above the town are two arcs of aurora curving upwards and across the sky. There's a hint of red colour on top of the base of the bands, and some places are slightly brighter green than the rest. A small amount of cloud is covering parts of the streamers but the light is shining through.

Diffuse Aurora, Bortle 3

Just before an #auroral display begins, the first hints of light are faint and spread across a large area of sky. If you're lucky, you might catch one.

Bortle Scale shows the amount of artificial light in the area, where 1 is the darkest and 9 has most light pollution.

These two things came together beautifully for us.

Grenivík in Grýtubakkahreppur¹, NE #Iceland.

¹ 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙚-𝘵𝘰𝘰-𝘣𝘢𝘬𝘬𝘢-𝘬𝘩𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘱-𝘳𝘳

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#AuroraTuesday #NorthernLights #AstroPhotography #AtOptics

A colour photo of the night sky, with hundreds of stars visible. There's a mountain on the right, barely visible, but its snow-clad flanks can be seen. At the bottom on the left are the lights of a small settlement, not a town but a collection of farms. There is some cloud just above the horizon. In the upper centre of the shot is a faint green band stretching right across the photo. This is the diffuse aurora.

Green Creature

The dream of an aurora hunter - to catch the corona overhead.

This shot has been in our libraries for a while, I didn't edit it before as it was noisy. Also, by the time the corona appeared it was getting cloudy, so there's some natural interference.

Recently I rediscovered the RAW file, so pulled it into Affinity Photo to work on it.

Berufjörður, eastern #Iceland.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II, f/4.5, 1.3 sec, ISO-6400

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#AuroraTuesday #NorthernLights #AstroPhotography

A colour photo of the dark sky, with stars visible. In the centre of the shot is a swirl of green light, some parts are bright and others are fading down to almost black. Some areas are slightly obscured by thin cloud, but the bright auroral lights are shining through it.

Green Glacier

Early November and the skies are clear of cloud.
We're in Hornafjörður in south-eastern #Iceland, it's 8pm and Fláajökull glacier is over-topped by streams and ribbons of the #NorthernLights.

Such a wonder. I'm so lucky to have danced beneath the #aurora and in a place like this, with some of the darkest skies in the world (Bortle 1).

Here's a rendered map of the same scene:
https://peakvisor.com/panorama.html?lat=64.2827544552828&lng=-15.461901321633178&alt=12&yaw=-31.67&pitch=14.17&hfov=69.57

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#AuroraTuesday #LandscapePhotography #AstroPhotography

A colour photo of a night scene with a dark sky full of stars. Six of the seven stars of The Plough or Big Dipper, properly known as Ursa Major, are visible in the top right. The foreground is flat grassland with some flagpoles in the near distance. Beyond them is a mountain range and, dropping between them, a glacier folding down to ground level. Above and seeming to come from the glacier itself are stripes of green light, some in quite straight lines, others swirling up to another level. The base of some of the ribbons is yellowish, and the colours blend and fade in patterns.

Aurorarama

A panorama of serene #aurora for you to enjoy today.

7pm, mid-November, Berufjörður in eastern #Iceland. On the left is Búlandstindur mountain which I featured yesterday.

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#AuroraTuesday #NorthernLights #LandscapePhotography #panorama

A colour photo of a fjord under a cloudless starry sky. The foreground is a body of water and, on both shores, there are ranges of mountains lining the horizon. The small lights of buildings are visible near the waterline on both sides. The mountains are moonlit from behind the viewpoint, showing the icy peaks in strong contrast. In the centre of the panoramic photo is an arc of aurora, strongly green, with some bars and spikes of more subtle light along its length. The two sides of the ribbon, which appear to be behind the mountain tops on either shore, have spikes reaching up into the night sky. Below the main arc is a second, fainter band. It's very beautiful.

Nitrogen Fringe

Sometimes, an active #aurora can have a red, pink or yellow band along the lower edge of the #auroral arc.

I didn't realise I'd seen it until I looked back at some of our photos.
Mid-November, and this farm building is at Höfn in Hornafjörður, south-eastern #Iceland
Even though the farm lights were bright, the aurora was stronger and visible to the naked eye.

Canon PowerShot G3 X, f/2.8, ISO 500, 8 sec exposure.

@photography

#AuroraTuesday #NorthernLights #AuroraPhotography

A colour photo of a night scene, with brightly lit farm buildings under a starry sky. Crossing the shot diagonally from lower right to centre left is a pair of auroral bands with some smaller ripples between them. The lower arc of the two has a distinct pinkish base, merging into the green above it.

"Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear,
Or, like a fairy, trip upon the green,
Or, like a nymph, with long dishevell'd hair,
Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen"
#Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis

A brief #aurora storm tints the grey sands with green, but the Lómagnúpur mountain has seen it all before.

Late October, near midnight, Skeiðarársandur outwash plain, southern #Iceland.

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#AuroraTuesday #FairyTaleTuesday #NorthernLights #WilliamShakespeare #LandscapePhotography

A photo of a flat, sandy area of ground with water-cut channels running through it. It's late, and quite dark. On the horizon is the silhouette of a mountain range. The sky is patchy cloud and some stars are visible but bright green streaks of aurora are spread across the sky. This light is so bright that the sands below are tinged with colour.

Wowser! Amazing shots 🤩

#AuroraTuesday

Northern Lights Photographer of the Year – 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2024/dec/31/northern-lights-photographer-of-the-year-2024?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Auroral Cycle

#Aurora goes through three phases: growth, expansion and recovery.

The growth usually starts ≈ an hour before expansion. This is when we see a rise in the magnetometers and a subtle arc begins to appear over the horizon.

Expansion is when the sky dances.

In recovery, the intense activity of expansion is waning, the magnetometers are returning to background levels and the bands of light become discontiguous before fading away.

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#Iceland #AuroraTuesday #AtOptics

21:38 - Growth.
A photo of a starry sky, with the silhouette of a mountainside at the bottom. The shape of most of the Plough (Big Dipper, Ursa Major) is visible on the left. From just above the horizon to centre left of the shot is a faint band of green light. Just above the mountain, it's topped with a stripe of red, also very faint. This auroral arc was actually not visible to the naked eye, only the camera.

22:35 - Expansion.
A photo of a starry sky, this time the foreground is a roadside barrier with yellow chevrons on the top of the kerb rail. From top right to near bottom right and across to centre left, the shot is filled by bright, strong green auroral bands. There are distinct curves and loops in the structure. It's gorgeous.

22:50 - Expansion to recovery.
A photo taken from the same place at the roadside, this time the aurora has become blocks and spikes of green light, fading upwards into the starfield. It's still intensely strong and very beautiful.

22:55 - Recovery.
A photo from the same place as the previous two. The bands and spikes of green are now very subtle and are beginning to merge into a diffuse cloud. A few brighter spikes are visible but they are losing strength. The stars are now clearer. The dance is over, the music is fading but the echoes remain.

Skylight

Patiently we waited in the cold and blustery darkness, hoping that the clouds didn't increase, hoping that the forecast was accurate, hoping that we were lucky.
The green lady didn't disappoint us.

The #aurora dances above Lómagnúpur mountain and the black sands of Skeiðarársandur - the largest outwash plain in the world - in south-eastern #Iceland.

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#AuroraTuesday #NorthernLights #DailyPhoto #WeatherPhotography #LandscapePhotography

A photo of a bleak landscape cut by water into stripes of channels. On the horizon is the dark silhouette of a craggy mountain. The sky above it is mostly clear but with some small clouds, and a few stars are visible. A bright green beam is just above the mountain, and more can be seen nearer to the viewer and higher in the sky. The ground surface is tinged slightly green by the brightness of the aurora.

Ditched

Sometimes, the #aurora can take you by surprise.

We'd been sitting in a safe spot for hours, waiting for the chance of a display. The KP forecast was dropping, the air was freezing and it was getting towards midnight so we decided to head back to the hotel in Akureyri, northern #Iceland.

Halfway down the mountain, the sky started to dance. Which is how we came to be photographing the #NorthernLights from a roadside ditch!

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#AuroraTuesday #DailyPhoto #WeatherPhotography

A photo of the night sky with ropes and swirls of aurora, almost in concentric circles. Closer inspection shows that some of the loops have streamers going upward and fading into the night sky. Many stars are visible too. The foreground is a dark stripe which is actually a roadside barrier that we were parked behind. It has yellow chevrons on the top for the traffic on the other side.

Cold Green Fire

The #AuroraBorealis dances above eastern #Iceland.

Many people dream of the time that they'll stand beneath the aurora.
I'm one of the lucky ones, I know.

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#AuroraTuesday #DailyPhoto #WeatherPhotography #LandscapePhotography

A photo of the night sky, with many stars visible above the silhouette of a hillside with trees and power poles. Across the sky is a bright shaft of green and yellowish light, but with stars visible within it. There are spikes and spires along its length. Higher in the sky are softer streaks of green, more bright patches than beams of light, with subtle nuances within them. It's beautiful, and breath-taking.

The Green Lady Dances

Berufjörður in eastern #Iceland and a spectacular auroral ballet is coming to an end. Very often, the arcs and bars of light in a display become discontiguous patches and gradually fade into the night sky, as this one has done. Aurora like this are very difficult to see with the naked eye, although the camera can still detect them.

The green colouration is caused by monatomic oxygen.

Please read the ALT tag for more...
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#DailyPhoto #AuroraTuesday

A night scene photo. The lower part of the shot is a line of moonlit jagged mountains. Above them is a starry sky, with diffuse greenish patches in the middle. At the top are curls and curves of green aurora, some with a barred structure a bit like a fence. There are lots of stars including part of Ursa Major. Some thin wispy cloud is visible, but isn't affecting the aurora.

Sweet Green Fire

The dream of every aurora hunter - to catch the corona, directly overhead.

This shot has been in our libraries for a while, I hadn't edited it before as it was high ISO (6400) and very grainy. Also, by the time the corona appeared it was getting cloudy, so there's some natural interference.

Recently I rediscovered the RAW file, so pulled it into PhotoShop to work on it this morning.

So, this is my birthday card to myself today!

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#DailyPhoto #AuroraTuesday

A photo of the sky, with stars visible. In the centre of the shot is a swirl of green light, some parts are bright and others are fading down to almost black. Some areas are slightly obscured by thin cloud, but the bright auroral lights are shining through it.
Happy birthday to me!

Skylight

A windy and cloudy night across Grýtubakkahreppur, but the #NorthernLights show us the way.

February, north-eastern #Iceland.

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#DailyPhoto #AuroraTuesday #WeatherPhotography #LandscapePhotography

A night scene of snow-covered farmland, with the lights of buildings sparsely scattered across the foreground. The sky has some cloud but, above and behind it, the aurora is dancing. A green cloud of light extends from top centre of the shot to near the bottom left and across to nearly the bottom right, and it contains stripes and streaks of brighter green. The centre of the lights is partly obscured by the cloud but the stars are shining around it.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Moonlit Búlandstindur, the pyramidal mountain, between Berufjörður and Hamarsfjörður fjords in eastern #Iceland. A wonderful display of firecrackers courtesy of the #AuroraBorealis and lots of stars including the Plough/Big Dipper aka Ursa Major.
One of my first #NorthernLights experiences and one I will never forget.

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#DailyPhoto #AuroraTuesday #photography #WeatherPhotography #LandscapePhotography #Landscape

A night scene of a mountain-lined fjord. The water is just visible at the bottom of the shot. Above it are a pointed mountain quite close by, and a row of unusual mountains on the other side of the water. The middle third of the photo is filled with strong bands of green aurora, subtle shading and spikes against a backdrop of dark blue. Above the northern lights and towards the top of the image is the familiar constellation known by many names, the Great Bear, Ursa Major, its seven stars quite distinct even in the green bands of aurora. The overall impression is inspiring but peaceful and calm at the same time.

The green ballerina graced us with a fleeting visit that night. She left a lasting impression in my heart.

We parked at the top of Víkurskarð on a November night for hours, waiting for signs of a display.
Nada.
So we packed up and drove down the mountain again and, when we were halfway back to Akureyri, the sky exploded into cold green fire. We stopped in the first safe place - a ditch!

#NorthernLights @photography #AuroraTuesday #AuroraBorealis #Iceland

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A lovely starry sky, a hillside is in the near distance and the foreground is a roadside barrier with yellow chevrons. The low foreground is dark, a hillside is on the right, with subtle lights of either cars or buildings. Two thirds of the shot is filled with the sky. The sky is filled with subtle shades of green, the base of each stripe is almost solid and fades away upwards. There are soft green streaks and spikes, seeming to go up to space, fading as they do so, a bit like voile curtains which have been up-lit from below the hem and are moving in a gentle breeze. Some stars are visible, close inspection shows part of the Plough (Big Dipper, Ursa Major). The overall feel of the photo is of awe and splendour.

A second shot of the auroral display, showing more of the silhouetted dark hillside.

A spiral formation of #AuroraBorealis for #AuroraTuesday! Its glow is captured in winter over Fairbanks, Alaska, due to high-energy electrons colliding with atmospheric gases. For more about this natural phenomenon, Check out my article: https://www.lwpetersen.com/science/what-causes-the-aurora/
#northernlights #nature #photography #nightphotography

#AuroraTuesday

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