Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Photo of the Day December 2021
- Thread starter Hughmac
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Outstanding!
I haven't been able to take photos of the Auroras recently. A couple of weeks ago is was extremely cold in the Interior of Alaska, and just early this week we had a snow storm.
Outstanding!
I haven't been able to take photos of the Auroras recently. A couple of weeks ago is was extremely cold in the Interior of Alaska, and just early this week we had a snow storm.
I heard some people talking about auroras, and I commented that I was looking forward to a 'heavy peak in this new cycle', and they looked at me like I was speaking Klingon. I lived through the last really energetic max, and people could see auroras down into the southern states. It was so amazingly awesome! Every night that the clouds weren't out, they were. Horizon to horizon. It doesn't get any better than that.
Last edited:
Agree. At those times one has to decide between watching the lights of taking photos
The Auroras were nothing but amazing in 2013. The displays were very strong all over the sky, and lasted most of the night. Solar activity has been low in recent years, but we have had a few powerful solar flares this year. It has been cloudy most of the time over here recently. I had to use the snowblower to remove over a foot of snow from the driveway yesterday.
I better not reply to this one. LOL I'll just echo your comment: "Yikes"... ?She eats her mates. My wife said it's a good thing I wouldn't taste good. Yikes...
Last edited:
This was my fourth attempt and I got lucky.
Ps. Just for the full context, I’m a mobile photographer. I use my iPhone to take all sorts of pictures.
While working on the new Army Hospital in Fairbanks, we went on tour of the pipeline on our day off. We also went to some University lecture on Auroras. I distinctly remember her telling us that they would shut down the pipeline when there was strong solar activity. I checked again today to be sure and this is what I found.
"Sometimes solar flares also cause hot plasma to be ejected from the Sun, causing a solar storm, and this is called Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).
"Sometimes solar flares also cause hot plasma to be ejected from the Sun, causing a solar storm, and this is called Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).
- Coronal Mass Ejections can harbour energies exceeding that of a billion atomic bombs.
- Very powerful Earth-directed coronal mass ejections can cause the failure of power grids and affect oil pipelines and deep-sea cables."
Moonset, taken on Sunday morning as the sun was rising behind me and a temperature inversion in the distance. Not the best of my work, but I do like it.
X-T3 with 16-55mm f2.8, Kase grad filter and polariser. 1/3s / f11 / ISO 160 (I think?)
X-T3 with 16-55mm f2.8, Kase grad filter and polariser. 1/3s / f11 / ISO 160 (I think?)
It's well known, among power distribution engineers, that auroras and solar activity can burn it all down. In the Carrington Event, long ago, the telegraph lines were seen smoking, and it all failed. Power surges were reported all across the world. People in Cuba (Pre-Castro) were seeing aurora in broad daylight. In today's technological heavy world, that type of event would have the potential to literally reduce humankind into the stone age. No satellites would likely survive. Power grids would be shorted out, and likely destroyed. Anyone in orbit would be exposed to near (or over) lethal levels of radiation.
Yeah, they should be alarmed. ANYTHING that isn't designed to suppress that level of solar power will not survive a Carrington Event. Look it up. It would be a society changing event for sure, and, granted an extreme, but the Sun has put out 'x-class' flares before, and most are unexpected.
Living near a star is 'interesting' for sure...
Outstanding!
I haven't been able to take photos of the Auroras recently. A couple of weeks ago is was extremely cold in the Interior of Alaska, and just early this week we had a snow storm.
The one Solar Maximum that I have commented on, happened in the 80's. Horizon to horizon, solid auroras. I was driving a date back home, and were in 'the boondocks', and it seemed really bright. Almost like driving in a city. I stopped, and stepped out of the car. I was almost driven to my knees. The aurora was so bright, vivid, colorful...
I got her to step out, and we stood there, on a state highway (no traffic) for nearly 20 minutes, grooving on the aurora display. OMG, that was just awesome. Not having cell phones, or cell phone cameras at the time, I couldn't take a picture of the event, but it is searchable, online. It was a really 'active' solar max incident. Auroras visible into Florida!
I wish I had had a camera. It was, breathtaking...
Very nice, the other day I was following some seminar about night photography by Rachel Jones Ross and now, as an ex amateur astronomy buff, I am refreshing my skills..
This is a very nice composition. I assume you had to stack a few .. Did you use Starry Sky Stacker or.. don't reveal all the kitchen secrets but a few hints might serve us all.
Maybe someone could start a new thread in the general discussion area about shooting the night sky, the stars, and auroras?
Such things are all over the Internet already. There also are threads somewhere in this forum about taking photos of the sky, nebulas, and so on. Well, not all are about the Auroras borealis
Search results for query: Auroras
forums.macrumors.com
There is an article about an Alaska photographer who's celebrating 25 years of photographing the Auroras:
Alaska aurora photographer celebrating 25 years of nocturnal lifestyle
It’s the darkest time of year in Alaska, which means plenty of hours for aurora hunting.
www.ktoo.org
Last edited:
