Shetland nights

Shetland offers many photo opportunities not just during the day

Just recently, the Aurora has been showing for several nights hopefully more to come before the year end

These red lights on top of wind turbines will be more problematic when the Viking Wind Farm is constructed destroying our night sky in the central mainland

The lights will be seen 25 miles away so might be more difficult for Aurora photography from this location at Tingwall loch

Cloud and light pollution, together with Christmas lights always causes problems. This looking towards Ireland near Bigton

Up to the great event, we were able to see Jupiter and Saturn getting closer. The problem on the night was cloud but very strong winds before caused a lot of issues trying to photograph it

 

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Saturn and Jupiter getting close in Shetland

On Monday I thought I better make the most of a part clear sky to photograph Saturn and Jupiter who are getting close together

This is the best Saturn photo i have taken ,using a 150-600 sigma lens

A bit of cloud but luckly it cleared away and the wind dropped

Photo from St Ninian's looking SW towards Fitful Head

Jupiter showing a few of its Moons

The conjunction will be at its best on the 21 December , when the two planets will be the closest in 400 years.

German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, wrote in 1614 that he believed that the `Star of Bethlehem' in the Nativity story could have been the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Other suggest that the three wise men could have been following a triple conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Venus.

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Many thanks have a great Christmas

Aurora not as predicted

Everyone was predicting a big Aurora a few days ago and what happened, nothing

Nothing showing down at Sandsayre

Nothing but red lights from the wind turbines

We will have to get used to these red warning lights on turbines when the 103 larger Viking turbines are erected in the central mainland, they will be seen 25 miles away destroying any night sky

Milky Way at Tingwall

Slight bit of green at Tingwall

A bit more green this time down at Bigton

A bit more still over Bigton but this more like a KP2 rather than a KP6 that was forecast

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A clear night in Shetland

 Had a trip down to Sanick in Sandwick the other night. Conditions were more or less perfect, still and warmish but a few clouds came in

Looking over the bay towards the farm

It was good to pick out Mars just above the moon

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Star filled sky at Sumburgh Head Shetland Framed Mounted Print by Richard Ashbee (photo4me.com)

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Sun Spots and not just one

On the 25 November the biggest sunspot for years appeared AR2786, this is the size of Neptune.

AR 2786 is massive, in fact 3 times bigger than the Earth and still growing. Hoping we get some solar wind to create an Aurora 

Good to compare sunspots a few days later. AR2786 had grown to more than 4x the size of earth and had started to break up

Just below AR2786 a new sunspot seems to be developing, 

Moon looking good

 Any night you can see the Moon is a good night for me. Last night we had almost a clear sky so i was out to photograph 

I used a Nikon D750 and a Sigma 800m  lens and then cropped it

Moon with Mars above

A hazy moon down at Boddam

Down at Sanick, Sandwick in Shetland lots of moon shine with very little wind.

Even the Aurora showed for a while around midnight but the moon took the edge off it. 

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New sunspots

 

It was good to see some large sunspots appear this week. These AR2871 are from the new cycle 25 and that means we should be getting more as we progress to solar maximum.

These spots are over 62,000 miles long and it is expected to last over 2 weeks.

Aurora but no Aurora predicted

 It amazed me how many times i have seen the Aurora even though no aurora was predicted. Last night space weather was flat, no indication of an aurora 

However the sky was clear and it was calm with no moon showing at the time, good for the stars.

I thought i would get as high as possible just in case a weak aurora showed so i went to the top of Mossy hill.

On the first photo the camera picked up a weak aurora north over Bigton, not visible to the naked eye.

The aurora started to spread  and there was some purple above the green although no rays at anytime and as expect due to it being a weak aurora was very low on the horizon

Good job i headed up the hill, also the cloud was low so could be obstructing the glow.

The stars were magnificent, also Mars shining out and i could see Andromeda as well to the south east.

With the Milky Way stretching over head it was great to be out. No wind which made it good for photography, this is not the place to go when its windy as its very exposed.

At one point the coastguard helicopter came along passing close to St Ninian's isle and casting a red glow over the sea.

I also managed to capture the Aurora, two meteors and two satellites(US Navy  Surveillance) on one photo. The meteors are from the Orionid shower, part of Halley's comet with about 20 meteor per hour. I saw 5 including one very bright one but it was the opposite side to where i was photographing

I ended up at the layby above Sandwick on the way home, even over Cunningsburgh with all the light pollution you could see the aurora, well at least the camera could.

Looking north to Cunningsburgh

Looking south to Mousa

By the time i had finished the temperature had gone down from 5 degrees to 0 degrees

Sandlodge

Sandsayre

By the end of the night only people in Shetland and the very far north reported seeing the aurora.

Not looking good for the next few days with cloud and rain

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