Double arc Aurora in Shetland

 We have had a good run of Aurora sightings in Shetland and the possibility of more the coming week.

This Double arc aurora on the 3 February was  good to see but having first gone down to Sandsayre in Sandwick i ran into cloud. Tom Jamieson was down at the same time and we both made a comment that we needed to get to a clear spot.

Tom mentioned Tingwall but i wasn't keen as it was very icy and the roads round the loch can be very dangerous in this type of weather

I headed west to Bigton, the road was still icy so i took it very slow. I stayed in the top layby as the tracked was iced up and i didn't want to get stuck

Over the past few days i  have had messages from people who have had broken bones or got their car stuck on ice.

You could easily see the Aurora with the naked eye, seeing the Aurora has been well discussed  on Shetland Aurora Hunter on Facebook.

The cloud was still present but started to clear a bit revealing a double arc of green stretching out into the voe

There was a few rays early on but then a static Aurora for the most part, it was still good to see and i never would take seeing the Aurora for granted. Some Shetlanders have seen so many times it has lost its charm.

Over the last couple of weeks i have been booked to give talks on the Aurora, two in Shetland and a further one in Sheffield when we go south, by then hopefully things will be back to near normal

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