Aurora Sandwick, Shetland

The Wednesday night forecast was looking good for an Aurora and even the weather looked promising. I went out at 9pm just as an Orange alert came through but by the time I go to Sandsayre, only 5mins away it had dropped back

The moon was always going to be a problem, virtually a full moon causing a lot of light pollution and washing out the Aurora. However the camera can pick up the Aurora better than our eyes and green was showing low down just above the clouds

It was also the first time I had taken night photos with the new LED streetlights at Cunningsburgh. In the past two weeks an extra 29 had been replaced , so now over 50% are the brighter, bluer LEDs.

The small boats always make an interesting foreground and these seem to change on a regular basis.

You can tell how bright the moon was with the camera settings, ISO1600 F4 at 10 seconds, so less noise generated.

We shall soon know whether the monstrous Wind Turbines will be erected across the central mainland, the red lights on top of the turbines will block off the Aurora and will be seen as far down as Scalloway.

For the Aurora Hunters on Yell, it will be worse as two wind farms, one in the north and south will also cause excessive light pollution.

Having a dark site is so important and on a small island like Shetland it may prove even more difficult to find one. Even out to sea the Oil rig lights can be seen at many places.

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Snow & Stars in Shetland

The weather forecast for Shetland was for a part clear night, and it was still and not too cold(-2 wind chill). We don't get many chances to photograph the night sky with snow on the ground and it was an opportunity not to be missed

I headed out to Whiteness but the cloud was already coming in from the west, but at least a few stars showed even though it was a full moon

I have been trying to get out to this area for a few months, but each time the weather turned. Even though it was clouding up fast it was a good time for a recce. It was good to find locations in the dark and judge where the best places might be for a time when it was clear.

I like it when its  dark & still, birds are still calling- Snipe, Curlew, Greylag, Redshank and Long Tailed Ducks and even an otter called out just in front of the bod.

It was a good chance to find out where the light pollution come into the photos, the long line of streetlights must have been from Aith or Voe.

There are several old croft buildings which make good photo subjects along with the ` bod'. This Bod at Nesbister is the only original fishing type building in Shetland.

Its situated on a low rocky peninsular in a picturesque inlet.  The bod can get completely cut off during winter, interestingly the toilet is the `bucket and bury' type and there is no electricity. Also you will only find the odd chair and a small table, the good news is that it is only £10pp per night

Talking about light pollution, new LED lights are being installed at Cunningsburgh so it will interesting to see the overall effect. With all the talk about the possibility of mass wind turbines being erected across the central mainland and most of Yell I can only think the red lights on top of turbines will destroy the view north.

Its been quiet on the Aurora front with solar minimum taking effect but the forecast seems good for tomorrow. Shetland Aurora Hunter continues to attract new member so if you are interested please send me a request on facebook

# aurora, # Cunningsburgh, #light pollution Shetland., #Shetland, #Shetland Aurora Hunter, #whiteness, #Yell, #Nesbister bod,

Aurora not cloud

How wrong can you be, the weather forecasts all indicated a cloudy night, yet in reality it turned out to be a virtually a clear night. This was in the south mainland while the north mainland, Yell and Unst suffered with thick cloud and drizzle.

We headed over to the west side as it became dark just as the Aurora stats started to become better, rising wind speeds and density with the BZ on the down.

The moon had also set earlier in the night so it was very dark just the right condition to see the many millions of stars.

As well as the Milky way green airglow could be seen , something that confuses people as sometimes they think it could be the Aurora, but this was facing south not north.

However looking north the Aurora was bright and around 10.15 it became slightly more active with green pillars moving across the green band. This was only a  KP3 but being so far north it was a good show.

Around 10.45 the cloud started to arrive so we headed home well pleased.

With now well over 1,000 members Shetland Aurora Hunter has grown well since I started the group back in December 2016, just send me a request to join.

I had one of my Aurora photos from the 8 September published in the Shetland Times last week. It was rather a disappointing quality, but this wasn't unexpected as it is always a difficult subject to reproduce.

Recently I have had a couple of Canvas prints done and they have come out well. The Sony A7s only has 12 mp but they managed to produce good prints at 30x20 inches. Metallic paper and Acrylic are other  good options.

I have had numerous questions about processing, some don't like any type of enhancement except sharpening. A lot of Aurora photos for me are too dark so it is important to make sure that the histogram is about 1/4 way from the left, it is worth putting the ISO up to gain a lighter photo which usually shows less noise- noise lives in dark places.