Nature Photography

[jnicholes]

What's happening? I'm confused

https://spaceweather.com/

A geomagnetic storm. Basically, the sun emitted a solar flare that was directed at earth and now we may see aurora‘s more far south than usual.

 

[azurbanclucker]

What's happening? I'm confused

View attachment 3962070

https://spaceweather.com/

A geomagnetic storm. Basically, the sun emitted a solar flare that was directed at earth and now we may see aurora‘s more far south than usual.

That translates to Aurora Borealis potential as far South as Alabama and Southern California. The storm warning is for tonight and tomorrow night as present, but space weather is "iffy" at best. You want long exposures on a tripod for best results, and depending on where you are, you may not see it with the naked eye (but your camera can)


This was May in AZ.

 

[jnicholes]

What's happening? I'm confused

That translates to Aurora Borealis potential as far South as Alabama and Southern California. The storm warning is for tonight and tomorrow night as present, but space weather is "iffy" at best. You want long exposures on a tripod for best results, and depending on where you are, you may not see it with the naked eye (but your camera can)


This was May in AZ.
View attachment 3962074

To add onto what @azurbanclucker said, you want a very still camera if you want to try capturing it. Look towards magnetic north. That’s where I saw my last aurora.

Personally, I use the app NightCap for iPhone. It helps me capture things through the telescope as well as outside the telescope at night. You just set it to the right settings, and you may capture some aurora borealis.

This was May in Idaho. I was shooting through clouds.

 

[mdees88]

Darn, it’s cloudy today.

Hopefully it will clear up. Wildfire smoke got me last time. I'm on the edge of smoke but should be good.

No clouds for me luckily.

 

[azurbanclucker]

To add onto what @azurbanclucker said, you want a very still camera if you want to try capturing it. Look towards magnetic north. That’s where I saw my last aurora.

Personally, I use the app NightCap for iPhone. It helps me capture things through the telescope as well as outside the telescope at night. You just set it to the right settings, and you may capture some aurora borealis.

This was May in Idaho. I was shooting through clouds.

View attachment 3962076

Also of note the colors of the aurora are due to particles interacting at different altitudes in the atmosphere. The greens you most often associate with an aurora are lower altitude, so they don't radiate out as far. The reds are higher up and can be seen from further away. Which is why my shot from way South is almost all red and @jnicholes has more green AND red in his from further North.

 

[mdees88]

LETS GOOOOOOO!

(after it gets dark)

I have my stuff packed, my spot picked and my cold snacks in the fridge.

I've got two places picked 30 mins outside of Waynesboro TN. They're the darkest sites in the area. Found a couple of fields facing north that looked okay on street view. Hoping to find a fairly photogenic landscape before dark.

 

[azurbanclucker]

I've got two places picked 30 mins outside of Waynesboro TN. They're the darkest sites in the area. Found a couple of fields facing north that looked okay on street view. Hoping to find a fairly photogenic landscape before dark.

View attachment 3962091

I'm debating bortle 5 or 4 spots, so you will have darker skies than me. I have to work in the morning so I want to stay within an hour of home.

 

[jnicholes]

The nice thing about where I live is that there’s not much light pollution in Dietrich.

I only drove about three minutes away to get to my regular astrophotography spot when I photographed that aurora.

 

[azurbanclucker]

The nice thing about where I live is that there’s not much light pollution in Dietrich.

I only drove about three minutes away to get to my regular astrophotography spot when I photographed that aurora.

Even living on the edge of Phoenix, it's still the edge of Phoenix. I can get into bortle 2 in 2 hours and bortle 1 in 3, but I just don't have that kind of time tonight

Having said that, the shot I posted was from my bortle 4 "usual" shooting spot. So crossing my fingers. Right now the storm's intensity is matching that May 10 event. but it's also 8 hours to good skies.

*edit: Dang typos!*

 

[azurbanclucker]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1844399426980413673

Sadly I think you need a login to read this thread, but if you can see it, ther's some good tips for cell phones and capturiong the northern lights.