NEW SHETLAND AURORA BOOK

                                                                         OUT NOW

                               I am very pleased to announce the publication of my new book

                                                      SHETLAND AURORA HUNTER (Limited Number)

The ultimate guide to understanding and photographing the Aurora in Shetland. 

Experiencing the Aurora is on most people's bucket list and the aim of this book is to address the most frequently asked questions of  the Aurora Hunter in or visiting Shetland. Besides being a guide to the Aurora in Shetland it will enable the beginner and more advanced photographer to capture one of the great natural events in the world. The lack of information on the Aurora in the UK and especially Shetland is one of the main reasons i decided to write this book.

• A4 size
• 164 pages
• 85 photos
• 16 diagrams
• 3 graphs

Price £16

Postage £5.90 (UK)

Collection / Delivery (Other Shetland dates will be arranged)

Collect from Sandwick in Shetland by arrangement

P&P 

UK  - £5.90

Europe - £16.10

USA - £31.75

Send me your full details including phone number to arrange collection or delivery 

email to: shetlandaurorabook@gmail.com                

Book sales have been going very well with sales outside Shetland to Sheffield, Germany and France                                            

Book and Sun spots

My book has just been published.  If you are interested please email me at shetlandaurorabook@gmail.com and get a copy before the launch date in August.

Price £16 +postage

Shetland - you may be able to collect from Sandwick

UK - £5.90

Europe - £16.10

message me for other areas see above

The sun has created alot of interest in the past few days with sunspot AR2835 growing each day. From One day to another, the sunspot grew to twice the size of the earth.

Its great to see lots of activity and although the Aurora season doesn't really start until late August the sun is becoming more active and creating CME's and Auroras

Sun spot twice the size of earth

Moon at Simmer Dim

NEW BOOK early next week

SHETLAND AURORA HUNTER

The ultimate guide to understanding and photographing the Aurora in Shetland

It was good to see the Moon as in Shetland it doesn't really get dark 

On the 21 June it will be Simmer Dim a time when it never really goes dark and you can easily read a newspaper outside at midnight

I like the moon in this phase as it shows off the craters

 join Shetland Aurora Hunter on  Facebook for more

Shetland eclipse

It could have been a Dinosaur day, well it felt like it. It was eclipse day not a large meteor

The morning started bright with a thin layer of cloud but by 10am just before the eclipse started it clouded over

Shetland as a whole was covered by cloud but there was a few breaks at various times

Its always the same at these events and many are missed but at least today i managed three views in the gaps

Looking at photos many people used no protection, all mind were taken with a solar filter hence the colour. In Shetland we had about a 40% covering

 I gather the next  partial eclipse is on the 25 October 2022 when it will be visible from the UK. You will have to wait until 2090 for a total eclipse

Join Shetland Aurora Hunter on Facebook for more

Aurora Exhibition- Shetland goes to Hong Kong

 It was good to have a photo accepted into the `Exhibition for Arts of the Aurora' in Hong Kong last weekend. It was organised by the Aurora Association

Its the one to the botton right, taken down at St Ninian's isle in Shetland a few years ago.

Hundreds of people saw the exhibition and was well publised 

At our end, it was covered by the Shetland Times and it was good to talk about how Shetland Aurora Hunter (Facebook ) has grown to 5600 members

Good Aurora in Shetland

It was good to get out on Saturday night as a strong Aurora showed over Shetland

It started to pick up around 22.30hrs and i went local down to Sandsayre

As it doesn't really start to get dark until just after midnight, and with the moon at 20% it was good to see a strong Aurora to beat the twilight and moonshine

Glendale hadn't registered any alerts and as we have seen many times in Shetland you sometimes just have to get out and look, especially as it was a clear sky for once

It was a bit windy but no too bad to take photos

The activity really picked up about 11.05pm, with the Aurora visible to eye and you could also see the rays . Nothing still on Glendale

The main activity lasted about 15 mins before fading back to a green arc

 Most of the activity has taken place in the morning, especially about 9am on a few occasions and up to Purple alert.

Join Shetland Aurora Hunter on Facebook for more information and photos

Aurora incoming - but where

This week has been very disappointing firstly because of the amount of cloud and rain that has blocked out the Aurora

I managed to get out on Sunday with the weather forecast indicating part clear skies, i only got a glimmer of the Aurora in a slim band over Bigton.

The other problem has been that the large surges have occurred during the day, even a purple alert but no good for watchers as its too light.

Nights are drawing out and its getting later when its dark but March has always been a good month to see the Mirrie dancers but the moon is also getting bigger so creating more light pollution

So the ideal night would be

> very active Aurora

> clear skies

> no wind

> new Moon

> reasonable time of night

> time to go out an experience the aurora

A lot of folk have been getting a 3-4 year reminder of events of Facebook, so join us at Shetland Aurora Hunter.