Big green Aurora- Shetland

We have had some good aurora action these last couple of months with shows about 2/3 of each month

These were taken down at Sandsayre in sandwick just a few mins from where we live

You can see lots more aurora photos on Facebook at Shetland Aurora Hunter- just send a request to join

This action lasted a good couple of hours and many locals came out to see it, even some in dressing gowns and slippers- they didn't last long as it was very cold

 Watch out for the Mega Aurora photos coming soon

Into the night- Shetland

 

Jupiter & Moon over Sandwick

Shetland Night Sky

We have been waiting ages for a part clear sky and you have to make the most of any opportunity

I headed down to Sandsayre, just a few mins away from where we live. A good amount of stars showed including Orion above Sandlodge

Sandlodge

Leebitton

I then headed across to the west and St Ninian's where it was nice and dark as the moon hadn't come up yet

Besides a brilliant Milky Way, lots of airglow showed. This often confuses people as they record green on their came(This cannot be seen with the naked eye) and think it is the aurora. As only a very weak aurora was visible and this was looking south it is a good indication of airglow which is red and green

The best seat in Shetland for watching the aurora

 For people asking about the Night Sky Photography course i run in Lerwick, this is now full- only took 3 days and always a popular course.

Join Shetland Aurora Hunter on facebook for more

A bit of Green- Shetland

A bit of a strange day yesterday. The day was very windy with heavy rain but the evening turned out still and part clear skies, then very cold with icy roads

An early Yellow Alert before 6pm made me scramble to see whether any stars showed and yes a few did

So off I went down to Sandsayre where nothing showed at first. after about 10mins some green popped through , off to the west

It continued to grow and with a bit more broken sky showed even more, for another 5 mins

It then disappeared and didn't show again until about 23hrs, again behind cloud. If you want to see more join Shetland Aurora Hunter on face book

Moon

The moon is always a good target for astrophotographers

When the atmosphere is clear the light is superb and with an 800mm lens you can get some good close ups

ThesThse

These are still cropped but are sharp. Good to photograph the moon at any phase but full and new are the most challenging

 Check out Shetland Aurora Hunter on facebook

Rare Red Aurora- Shetland

The aurora talk for Shetland Community Wildlife group went down well despite the gales and rain with 27 people turning up

Good to see one of my aurora photos being used as a front cover of the 2023 Shetland Times calendar 

Aurora activity has remained high for over a couple of weeks but for us cloud has blocked many a good aurora with only glimpses through the cloud

This night (photos) started early and quickly moved to orange alert so i chanced the east side of Shetland down at Sandsayre, the west looking cloudier.

It was evident that this was a powerful aurora with rays reaching high in the sky and then red starting to show above the green. Red is a rare aurora colour and although i could just about see the green i could not see red to the eye.

Good job the camera can pick it up. Red auroras happen when highly charged particles from the sun collide with high altitude oxygen atoms, if the atom collides with another atom no energy (light) is released but at high altitude there are less atoms so less chance of them colliding and therefore able to release the red light.

It's a shame there was so much cloud around, hiding the red aurora but nevertheless you can see the extend of the rays.

 

Aurora Talk in Shetland

 If you are in Shetland ,you might be interested in the above talk, tickets are FREE just scan the code to reserve one