Shetland Star Trails

Star trails are a great way to show Stars in a different way. Often if you are photographing stars you are best to go for a well know constellation other wise people seem to be less impressed

 Star trails are easy to do, providing the conditions are favourable. First you need a clear night with no wind, difficult in Shetland

 The first three photos was taken at ISO800 30 seconds for 60 shots and then combined in a free software program Star trails. There are three different methods to combine photos, my favourite is the comet trails

The bottom image, photographed at Jarlshof in the south mainland is just 10 photos at ISO 800 30 second exposure

Have a great Christmas and don't forget to join Shetland Aurora Hunter on facebook

Aurora colours

There is no doubt that its great to see the Aurora no matter what colours are revealed. If we manage to see the Aurora with our own eyes then we will mostly see it in Black & White. This is because our eyes are made up of cones and rods

The cones reveal detail and colour in good light, in poorer light such as nightime then the rods which are located at the edge of the eye can only give a suggestion of colour mainly green, if we see any at all

Our atmosphere consists of oxygen and nitrogen and these are hit by charged particles blasted out from the sun. As they collide those hitting the Oxygen create a green and red Aurora while those hitting the Nitrogen create a blue or deep red/purple colour

There are many shades of these colours . We normally encounter a green yellow  colour while when the Aurora is very active then pillars created can be topped with red. Very occasionally a deep red colour can also be seen at the bottom of the Aurora

The strong green light occurs at around 120 - 180km's while red aurora can be both lower of higher

 

There is no doubt that a very active Aurora with large rays will be on most peoples bucket list

We are lucky that we can see many different variations in Shetland

To keep up to-date with Aurora activity in Shetland, make a point in joining Shetland Aurora Hunter on facebook

Jarlshof and stars of the past

Jarlshof is one of the most visited historical sites in Shetland and its good to capture the main building, Lairds House at night especially when the stars are showing

It was a moonless night and fairly dark although the lights from Sumburgh hotel and airport crept over onto Jarlshof and did light the buildings, although still needed some additional light painting.

I first tried a short Star trail then moved round to capture the building with Sumburgh head in the back ground. With the moon I was able to use ISO800 which resulted in less noise.

Its good getting to Jarlshof at night when no one is around, although you have to be careful where you walk otherwise you will fall down one of several large holes and get an alternative view of the stars

At night you have to watch where you are going as there are a lot of very wide deep holes to fall down if you get distracted.

 Looking North

 Looking South towards Sumburgh Head

Stars over Sumburgh Shetland

Despite the light pollution from Sumburgh airport there is plenty of interest nearby. I first called off at Mossy Hill where plenty of stars showed

Its always great to see the milky way and due to its darkness this is a good place to see not only  the Milky way but Andromeda as well, showing close to the radar mast

Next stop the top of Compass Head and a look down to the airport but you can still see stars above the glow

Its almost alien like with the orange glow from the warning light on the radar globe on top of Compass Head.

Further up the hill to the bottom carpark at Sumburgh Head. The small lighthouse is the old one from Muckle Roe and it makes as a good photographic subject

Used the light from the main lighthouse to come round to illuminate to glass dome

Moon lit from the south east

Looking towards Sumburgh Lighthouse

Its coming up to the 3rd anniversary for Shetland Aurora Hunter on facebook, the only place locally to get up to-date information on the Aurora- just send a request to join

Cloudy Aurora

Its always good to see an Aurora and its always worth chancing it even though it may be mostly cloudy

 It was forecast to be a KP6 and the stats looked good for that but the cloud had rolled in. Shetland Aurora Hunter was receiving some reports that the Aurora had been seen behind the clouds to the north

That was the case when I arrived down at Bigton, I had already passed through fog on the way down but some gaps appeared as it travelled west

Stars appeared then disappeared but you could see the Aurora glow, I could see the green but the camera revealed purple above

It was certainly active and the glow began to spread further west.

The cloud again came in so that was it for the night

The Aurora appeared for three days on the trot, but only for those that got up just before 5am, even `Steve' made an appearance to a few people

As usual, more information on Shetland Aurora Hunter on facebook

Consecutive Aurora nights in Shetland

We have just seen 6 consecutive days of Aurora activity in Shetland although the first few days viewing was very difficult with very strong winds and heavy rain

Things started to improve on the fourth day but the aurora was fairly weak but still worth seeing.

I really relish getting out under any night sky especially when the Aurora is due. You have to watch the stats to have any clue what is going on, or check on Shetland Aurora Hunter for actual aurora sightings.

The problem with some apps is that on occasions they are way out with predictions, for instance on one of the nights it was not showing any activity so to speak, just a KP1 but the Aurora in Shetland was quiet bright , more like a KP3

This has happened many times before, last year one night I went down to Sumburgh to photograph the milky way as no Aurora had been predicted but I was soon picking up green on camera. As I made my way back to the car I could see the Aurora by eye, again two of the apps I have showed no activity.

More and more colour showed with high rays, a great display but few had been out and seen anything judging by the lack of photos the next day. The opposite can happen as well and most people have been caught out when a large aurora was due only to find nothing showing.

After all these are just predications it best just to go out as much as possible and experience the night yourself.

Tingwall Night Sky

Most people don't like shooting a night sky with a full moon. However for me there are a lot of positives as the Moon lights the landscape with some beautiful light

 These photos were taken with a 98% Moon but I have also added a bit of light painting

 ISO can be a lot lower than when the moon is not out, typical ISO levels would be around ISO6400- 8000 without a moon

With a lower ISO it means less noise and a higher Dynamic Range which make the photo a lot more appealing 

 Looking west

 Tingwall is always a good place to go