Aurora over the Pentland Firth.

**Mystical Potato Head** · 11-Sep-11, 11:53

A couple of shots taken at about 10.45 Saturday night.

**dragonfly** · 11-Sep-11, 11:55

stunningly good. was this last night, thought when I was heading to bed that the sky looked unusual, if so now I know why

**Mystical Potato Head** · 11-Sep-11, 15:41

Originally Posted by dragonfly

stunningly good. was this last night, thought when I was heading to bed that the sky looked unusual, if so now I know why

Yep,it was last night.There was a much stronger solar flare hit the earth on Friday night but it was totally clouded out so this aurora is much further north
than Fridays and not so high in the sky,still was pretty cool watching it swirl around.

**nirofo** · 11-Sep-11, 17:16

Excellent shots MPH, I missed it entirely.

nirofo.

**cazmanian_minx** · 11-Sep-11, 18:00

Now why weren't they as strong as that 25 miles west??? I saw a very faint green glimmer in the sky, so set up in the field with my tripod, but it never developed

I fired off a couple of hopeful 30 second exposures, but only got a slight glow.

Apparently there'll be more activity tonight, so I'm crossing my fingers for no cloud...

Edit: Argh, forgot to say FABULOUS pictures!!

**bcsman** · 11-Sep-11, 18:21

its beautiful mph

**Mystical Potato Head** · 11-Sep-11, 18:23

Originally Posted by cazmanian_minx

Now why weren't they as strong as that 25 miles west??? I saw a very faint green glimmer in the sky, so set up in the field with my tripod, but it never developed

I fired off a couple of hopeful 30 second exposures, but only got a slight glow.

Apparently there'll be more activity tonight, so I'm crossing my fingers for no cloud...

Edit: Argh, forgot to say FABULOUS pictures!!

They were only bright for about 20 minutes or so after i got to the beach,roughly between 10.40 and 11.after 11 pm the display subsided to a green glow with very little movement.
I was using 15 second exposures at ISO 1600,also used curves in photoshop to increase the light and make the contrast stronger.The full moon was good for highlighting the foreground but it did spoil the
visual display and really washes out the contrast between the aurora and the sky.Could only see the spikes and curves of the aurora for the 20 mins or so that it peaked.I was going to take about400 shots for a timelapse after this but stopped after 100,the display looked fairly static which isnt very good for a timelapse, there was some faint movement showing on the photos but you couldn't make it out with the naked eye.
Will have to wait for a stronger display,there will be plenty of those in the coming autumn and winter months.

**Jovi** · 11-Sep-11, 19:18

Wow, I saw a faint glow later in the evening but nothing worth grabbing the camera for,well captured, stunning images

**kas** · 11-Sep-11, 19:42

I cant believe how little noise you have for ISO 1600, I was on 500 and mine are very noisey although I remember reading cropped sensors do generate more noise than full frame. I caught on at 10.45 having been kepping an eye out, and thought we were in for a show but as you say it pretty much died apart from the odd isolated spike here and there.

Fabulous as always

**Mystical Potato Head** · 11-Sep-11, 21:31

If only we could have seen Friday nights display.
Imagenomic noise reduction software is superb.It used to be a free download which you couldnt adjust but it still did a good job,although it overdid it at times but dont know if the free download is still on going.
I have the full version for astrophotography through the telescope because its surprising just how much noise you get photographing a dark sky.

**astroman** · 11-Sep-11, 23:35

Fantastic photos MPH. Although the bright Moon masked the aurorae a bit, it has made a good job of lighting the foreground. Unfortunately I missed the best of the display, but as you say there should be further opportunities in the coming months.

I often use the free edition of the Imagenomic software (v2.6 found at the bottom of this web page - http://www.imagenomic.com/download.aspx). It's well worth a try.