Bigton Aurora display

Following a disappointing night on Wednesday things finally came good on Friday. Earlier in the day the weather had not looked promising with thick cloud covering Shetland. Then around 7pm it started to clear, well before it would go dark

The Moon would be a problem with at 92% full but cloud came in to help for once

A large CME  sent a fast solar wind which arrived earlier in the afternoon  and would have given a great show had it not been for the daylight.

In Shetland the Aurora is also known as the Mirrie dancers -Northern Lights

At 9 pm we went out as the cloud had cleared  over to the west although everyone else was reporting heavy cloud and drizzle.

At Bigton I could see some Aurora activity on arrival so we soon set up and started photographing. As luck would have it the Moon was covered by cloud and didn't dilute the colours.

About 9.30 the Aurora started to spread and columns of colour could be seen with the naked eye, this lasted about 10 mins before it settled down again. Around 10.15 pm the cloud had come in so we headed back a lot happier.

It appears that most other people in Shetland had not seen the Aurora but further south on the Scottish mainland they also had a good show.

September / October are good months for the Aurora and its not cold either. Once the nights start drawing in it worth heading out if you see any gaps in the sky. All the weather forecasts proved wrong, so never know what to use.- send me your weather forecast please if accurate

Shetland Aurora Hunter members have now passed 1,000, why not join us as the webcams many people watch for signs of the Aurora will be closed down at the end of the month with no company ready to take over from Promote Shetland