Beach Aurora

Tuesday this week had a reasonable Aurora Forecast, the weather forecast on the other hand was mixed.

I headed down to Bigton where the sky was reasonably free from cloud compared to the east side.

I was looking for a different angle so headed down to the beach. The Moon had just set so it was dark and the milky way showing well.

The Aurora was visible to the naked eye, a wide green band stretching across the sea from Ireland

The other good thing was that it was still which was a pleasant surprise after recent gales. The tide was well up and provided a nice foreground.

The Aurora was only visible for about 1/2 hour before the cloud rushed in from the South west and totally swallowed the green band

I was surprised to find that no one else was about, its usually a popular spot for Aurora's. I am still looking for other sites away from light pollution but looking north. It needs to be fairly close as sometime you get little notice that the Aurora is developing

As it was dark I was using  ISO 6400 at F/2 around 6-8 seconds, its a great setting on the Sony A7s  showing only a little noise. Even Nikon and Canon cameras would show a lot of noise at this ISO

Shetland Aurora Hunter on facebook is the place for up to-date information, just send a request to join

# northern lights, # mirrie dancers , # Shetland Aurora Hunter

Sandwick Aurora

A clear night in between cloudy windy nights so I took a short trip over the hill to Sandsayre in Sandwick to see the Aurora 

The sky was mostly clear until a bank of cloud moved in , the moon also came out at 9.40pm

Light pollution from Cunningsburgh is always a problem from this site although its now a mix of LED and sodium lighting.

                        I wasn't the only one down at the beach as an otter appeared for a few mins .

I thought the moon at one side and Cunningsburgh lights with the Aurora in the middle provided a nice balance, although it would have been better without any artificial lighting

Sandlodge was nicely lit up by some car headlights, a better position here than full on as the lights from the house proved too much for the camera to handle

Shetland Aurora Hunter is doing well on facebook if you need up to-date information on the Aurora in Shetland

~#Shetland Aurora Hunter, # Aurora #Shetland,  # Sandlodge , # Sandwick,  # Cunningsburgh,   # Northern Lights

Milky Way

Before moving to Shetland from Sheffield it virtually impossible to see the Milky Way due to Light Pollution. From the darkest spot in the Derwent Valley it was just visible.

In Shetland it is easier to get away from the light pollution and when there is a new moon the Milky way is absolutely spectacular.

Earth sits approx. 2/3rds from the centre on the outer edge of the spiral arm. Because the galaxy is essentially disc shaped, there are more stars in our line of sight as we look along the plane of the galaxy than there are when we look above or below the plane

A long exposure reveals the dense star clouds towards the centre. The central region is dominated by a dense hub of old red and yellow stars while the outer edge has a mix of stars.

Milky Way at St Ninian's

The density of stars is far greater near the galactic core , (the lighter parts near the bottom ) Its higher star density is why the galactic core appears so bright and why the regions further away from it appear progressively dimmer.

                    I used a Samyang 24mm lens and a Sony A7s in these photos, most at ISO 4000 at f/2

                           Still plenty to see in the Shetland Night sky even if the Aurora is not visible

Milky Way at Scatness

The galactic core is only visible in Shetland late August , September & early October especially when there is a new moon. This is the prime area for photography.

Capturing the correct colours is a different matter. It is generally accepted that the core band of the Milky Way is a whitish cream colour, not the vivid purples, blues or greens that appear in some photos, but that's the photographer choice when processing.

Don't forget to join us at Shetland Aurora Hunter on facebook