Category: Aurora Borealis

Northern Lights Surprise

The sun is quite active now. Another powerful X-class flare was reported today and could give us another round of northern lights on the night of the 9th and 10th. Last week, two X flares sent CME’s (coronal mass ejections) toward Earth. Solar storms were predicted on October 5 and 6, but that turned out to be a dud. However, the last two nights, especially last night (Oct. 7), there were unexpected displays of auroras. Last night, I happened to be out there at just the right time.

It was about 9:30 when I saw pillars showing up in the northeast sky. For the next 10-15 minutes, there was a brilliant display that worked its way across the northern sky. The Pleiades are in the lower right, where the red turns green. At the top center, one can see the Double Cluster.

I stitched two frames together for this pano. I really need to get wider angle lens, something in the 14mm class. At 35mm, I can’t get an entire display in the frame. The bright star Capella can be seen a bit right and lower of the center.

Looking toward the Big Dipper. I enhanced the seven stars of the Big Dipper.

Brilliant reds that the camera captured could be seen with the unaided eye, just not this bright.

Later I noticed a patch of nebulosity in the sky almost directly overhead, so I point the camera at it. I believe this is a SAR (stable red arc). SARs are red arcs in the night sky, with a monochromatic glow at 6300 Å that comes from atomic oxygen in the upper atmosphere. The human eye is relatively insensitive to light at this wavelength. SARs are usually so faint that no one notices when they pass overhead. Cameras catch them easily, though. I think what I could see was the green patch and I’m not sure how that came to be there. I’m going to post this on Spaceweather.com and see if I can get an expert opinion.

Another pano, looking due north. As always, one can can open these images in another window for a larger view, assuming use of a computer and monitor.

Aurora Borealis

Spectacular Aurora Borealis

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date August 12, 2024
4 Comments on Spectacular Aurora Borealis

Last night, I checked Spaceweather.com and as was predicted, a solar storm was brewing. I drove up to the top of the Antelope Ridge Road where I have an expansive view to the north and east. It was perfectly clear and the moon was setting in the west, excellent conditions. It just so happened that it was also the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, and I did see some bright meteors too.

It wasn’t even dark yet when I saw the first sign of aurora. I could see these pillars with the unaided eye. Thinking this was a good sign I texted other potential aurora watchers to let them know.

For about 3 hours, this is as good as it got. It was a bright aurora, easily visible but not many pillars and not much color.

At 12:30 AM MDT, the whole sky suddenly erupted. For an aurora like this, a 35mm lens is not a wide enough view! This is the eastern side of the display. I quickly realized that I was now overexposing, it was so bright. I ended up using 15 second exposures at f4 and ISO 800. This was by far the most colorful display I have ever seen, I could see the red and green with the unaided eye. The camera just did it better.

Due north after it started to recede a bit.

Here’s the western edge, I enhanced the stars of the Big Dipper.

I took over 70 images, but most of the time I just watched the awesome display. One really has to be there and see it to fully appreciate it.

I kept watching for something else to develop, like STEVE, but it never did show up. According to Spaceweather.com, the brightest part of the storm was a G4 severe magnetic storm.

Aurora Borealis Birding

Last Day at Granite Gap

I’m getting ready to head north today. I’m not sure how far I will get but I plan to be in South Dakota by the end of the week, or sooner. I suppose everyone reading this has seen the news coverage of the huge solar storm on Friday night and saw the outbreak of Northern Lights. I could even see it here at latitude 32 degrees. I took a few photos, it was not very spectacular but still, to be able to see it here was extraordinary. According to Spaceweather.com, it was one of the greatest solar storms in the last 500 years.

I drove north a few miles, because a mountain blocks my view of the north from camp. The lights on the horizon are from I-10, about 8 miles north. At times a few rays of the aurora were visible but mostly it was just a bright glow. The camera captures far more color than I could see.

Another image, I watched for several hours, but this is about as good as it got.

On my morning hike yesterday, I got quite close to this Olive-sided Flycatcher, in nice light. I really like this one!

I saw quite a few migrating MacGillivray’s Warblers too. All of them were difficult to photograph, this is the best I got.

A Common Ground Dove, the first one I’ve seen in the Granite Gap area. It is not a new bird for the year though, still at 234 species.

Astrophotography Aurora Borealis Birding Insects

Heading South

I left my campsite yesterday and drove to Sidney, Nebraska. I’m in the Cabela’s RV Park. Today I’m aiming to make to it to Timpas and spending the night there. I would have been happy to stay where I was, but the weather is changing, a period of rain and cloudy weather is moving in.

Here is another image of STEVE from the geomagnetic storm that occurred Monday night. Spaceweather.com had several other reports and photos of STEVE. Mine was the only one from South Dakota. I was pretty excited to see this! I guess I won’t be seeing any more auroras now that I’m going south. Read more about STEVE at this LINK.

A few days ago, I was sorting things out in the truck when I noticed lots of small things hitting the truck. A closer look revealed that backswimmers, aquatic insects, were coming out of the sky onto the truck. I checked around the area and they were not coming down on the camper or anywhere else. I realized what was happening, the shiny, black truck looked like water to the backswimmers. There must have been a large hatch of them somewhere and they were looking for new areas to colonize. This is a photo of one I took some years back at the same place, genus Notonecta.

It took a few days, but I finally found a few Pygmy Nuthatches near camp.

A pair of Canada Jays (Gray Jays) in the top of a pine.

I probably shouldn’t even show this, it is not very good. This is Abell 85, an extremely faint supernova remnant near Cassiopeia. I spent three nights on this, gathering 6 hours of exposure. I could not even see it in any of my photos, and even after processing it was very faint. Without the new software that allows me to remove stars before processing, it would have been hopeless. Unless I decide to invest in a new astrophotography camera, I think these very faint objects will be off limits to me, it just isn’t worth the time.

Astrophotography Aurora Borealis

Northern Lights

Tonight, there was a major geomagnetic storm, and the auroras began as soon as it was dark enough to see them. It was not the best display I’ve seen in South Dakota, but the appearance of another phenomenon was completely unexpected and welcome! I took lots of photos but for now, I’m going to post only three. I wish this had happened when I was in Harding County, a couple of degrees further north might have made a big difference.

The aurora stayed low on the horizon most of the time, this is about as good as it got. I could see it very well with the unaided eye but the camera picks up a lot more color. All images are taken with a Canon 6D, 35mm Sigma art lens, mounted on an iOptron Sky Tracker.

On the left is STEVE. STEVE, formally known as Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, is different from the aurora. It looks like a ribbon of pink or mauve light. Sometimes, STEVE even has a “picket fence” appearance, with green columns of light passing through the ribbon. That can be seen in my photo. Auroras, by contrast, usually are shimmering green ribbons. Very exciting to see it!

Another image with STEVE and aurora on the right. I enhanced the stars in the Big Dipper.

Astrophotography Aurora Borealis

Back in Pierre and More Aurora

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date September 4, 2022
1 Comment on Back in Pierre and More Aurora

The Slim Buttes area was getting pretty crowded with the opening of archery deer season and the Labor Day weekend. I decided to move back to Pierre for a while. Last night, I was about to go to sleep but decided to check Spaceweather.com one more time to see what the aurora was doing. There was a geomagnetic storm in progress, so I loaded what equipment I needed and drove north of town. Rural Hughes county is not as dark as Harding County but it is pretty good. The only problem was the moon, it is about half phase now and was still above the horizon. By midnight it was sinking below the horizon and conditions improved a lot. This was far from the best displays of aurora borealis I’ve seen, but it has been at least a decade since I’ve seen one this good!

This was my first stop, just before the moon set. At this point, I could see pillars and rays of the aurora with my unaided eyes. It stayed low on the horizon.

After the moon set, I drove a few miles further east to get away from the lights of the Pierre area. There, I watched aurora come and go for a couple of hours. It never got much brighter but it was still worth staying out there!

Another view. Tonight could be even better if the forecasters are correct.

While I was the Slim Buttes, I spent three nights working on this with the C8. The Ghost Nebula, a very faint dark nebula near Cepheus. I knew it was going to be hard with the C8, this one requires a lot of exposure and I need more, but here it is anyway. About 6 hours of exposure.

Aurora Borealis Insects

More Aurora Borealis

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date August 31, 2022

Two nights ago, Spaceweather.com was showing some promise for northern lights. I watched for a couple of hours. At one point, they got pretty bright, I was getting excited about a big show. Then, they just faded away. I saw some photos taken in Canada that night and those were spectacular. I hope to see a good display before I head for Arizona.

Here it is at its brightest. To my eyes, it was just a glow that was moving across the horizon, the camera captured the colors.

A little later when the aurora was more spread out.

Just before it faded away, it appears to show what aurora watchers call “picket fence” in the lower right.

Ornate Checkered Beetle. I used the 100mm macro and a ring flash.

A thread-waisted wasp, exact species unknown.

Aurora Borealis Birding Insects Photography

Northern Lights

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date August 19, 2022

I was very optimistic about photographing the aurora borealis last night. Earlier in the day, Spaceweather.com and NOAA Spaceweather Prediction Center were forecasting a possible G3 class solar storm. Later in the day, that prediction was downgraded to G2 or G1. I went out and watched anyway, it was a clear night and the moon is rising later so the sky was dark. As soon as it got dark, I could see a glow in the north and then areas of brighter glow. To my eyes, it was not very impressive, but the camera caught good auroral activity.