Comet 46/P Wirtanen from Shetland

If I had accepted the numerous weather forecasts on Monday I wouldn't have gone out as most said a min of 98% cloud.

There was no hint of the Aurora when we ventured out at 6.15 pm (it did show briefly at 10.30 pm) but the sky was stunning and only 5% cloud , so why on earth did the forecasts say otherwise (well it is only a forecast). They did get the wind and temperature correct with only a force 2-3 and 1 degree.

I headed to a local dark site and it could have been anywhere in Shetland but this was over at Bigton to the west and only 10 mins away.

Quickly setting up I wanted to find the Comet 46/P Wirtanen which is the brightest today (12 12 18)at magnitude 3 . It actually is closer to earth on the 16 December when it is only 11.6 M Km away and it should look bigger then. 

The problem will be the wind in Shetland with force 7 winds expecting so photography will be very difficult.

Anyway the green comet did show up in the photos, despite a fuzz appearance.

Another target was the Plough, again easily picked up to the north while Mars was showing well to the south

Plough

The milky way was spectacular to the west and with no moon to provide any light pollution many stars became visible.

It makes you wonder just how many satellites are orbiting the earth when you can capture 3 or 4 in one 15 second frame. One however the Iridium satellites which produce  a nice flare will no longer be flashing in the sky after this month, with new ones being launched which don't show the middle bulge.

Besides all the targets I went to photograph, it's an excellent period for  Geminid meteors 14- 18 December which are usually very bright and around 120 per hour. Had it not been for Force 6-7 winds for the rest of this week, they would have been a great target with the Comet.

                   Coastguard helicopter and the Plough

All the photos on this page were taken with a Sony A7s and a 24mm Samyang lens, ISO6400 F2 between 10-15 seconds depending on direction

I have just finished delivering the Night Sky Photography Course in Lerwick and the revised course has gone down very well. I will be running this again next November so keep an eye out for details, places go quick.

 Milky  Way over St Ninian's Tombolo

Fireball

A clear sky and a forecast of a KP5 aurora with only a slight wind, it was looking good except the moon was nearly full and causing a lot of light pollution

I set up anyway and it wasn't long before i caught this fireball over Bigton, on the west side of Shetland, one of those events I will treasure for along time

This may be a random fireball, a rock from the asteroid belt as no meteorite shower was due, the next major one the Leonid in November. The only September meteor shower is the Aurigids shower, which is debris from the Comet Kiess, but this is a periodic event.

Fireballs are very bright meteors, with a magnitude over -4, this one must have been very bright considering the strength of moon. The frequency of Fireballs increase by 10-30% during the weeks of the vernal equinox

 Anyway back to the aurora, i could just see a very faint aurora about 10.30pm and the camera sensor confirmed this

 The moonlight was highlighting the foreground but washing out the green of the aurora

Its still good to get out any night and you have to make do with the weather conditions, even St Ninian's tombolo looked great in the moonlight. I felt sorry for those in the caravans as none of the people had come out to see the night sky

                                                                   A faint glow on the horizon still worth seeing

                                                                  The glow of the moon just over the horizon

 Apparently after 1.30am the aurora grew stronger and gave a good show. Tonight the cloud has come in and its looking doubtful whether we will see the aurora even though the forecast is good.

For more Shetland photos please visit my website at www.amazingshetland.co.uk