Northern light pics I took the other night - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2016, 08:29:29 pm
content: I heard Iceland was having a pretty good show, so figured I'd go check outside and could see them from my driveway. So drove down the highway to find a good spot to take pics. Taken with Nikon D7000.Thought I'd share:More:http://imgur.com/a/53Skb

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2016, 08:31:27 pm
content: Cool!How northerly are you?Tim

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2016, 08:39:04 pm
content: Thanks for sharing.Northern or Southern lights ARE on my bucket list.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2016, 08:46:08 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on October 01, 2016, 08:39:04 pmSame here but the activity of the sun is getting lower so you have to be quick now or wait for about a decade for maximum activity.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 12:25:57 am
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on October 01, 2016, 08:31:27 pmAbout 48 degrees north or so.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 12:43:30 am
content: Oh, well that's not very far... I should be able to see it from here then maybeTim

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 12:43:57 am
content: Damn that's awesome. I would have loved to drive out but I can't even scrape together $300 to fix my car. I did see them once but nothing even close to that.

author: Homer J Simpson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 02:45:46 am
content: Nice job. What lens were you using, camera mode, settings, tripod?I shoot with a d7200, mostly into macro.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 04:16:46 am
content: D7000 and 18-105 kit lens, tripod + remote shutter. Settings vary, but I tend to try to stick to low enough ISO to avoid the pictures from being grainy, but there's a couple where I jacked it up to like 5000 just to see what I'd get. Exposures were in the 10-30s range.One of these days I need to look at setting up an external monitor so I can view the pictures better right off the camera, but for a quick little excursion it's a lot of extra stuff to bring. Could be a neat project though to setup a briefcase style box where I can store the camera, lenses, small HDMI monitor + a battery/inverter for the monitor. Then I just carry that + tripod and I'm set.I'm hoping we get some again this year before it gets cold, I'd like to go again but with my fish eye lens to get a different style of shot. Given I'd be able to just plop it in one spot and capture the whole sky, I'd probably do a time lapse or something.

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 04:22:30 am
content: Nice shots!!-Pat

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 06:09:56 am
content: 3rd pic is B-E-A-UTIFUL

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 05:46:35 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on October 01, 2016, 08:39:04 pmMine, too. +1 on the awesomeness.

author: JoeN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 10:33:12 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on October 01, 2016, 08:39:04 pmI've seen them as far south as Denver once. That was when I was a kid. I think there was a magnetic storm at that point. It looked a lot like the photos, they were not subtle, it was a surprise for everyone.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2016, 11:03:06 pm
content: Awesome, didn't think you'd see them that low down on the ol' planet. Do they make sound as well?

author: JoeN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2016, 12:23:31 am
content: No they don't make sound.

author: tronde
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2016, 12:38:23 am
content: Quote from: JoeN on October 03, 2016, 12:23:31 amSome will disagree...http://www.aalto.fi/en/current/news/2016-06-22/

author: imidis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2016, 12:41:32 am
content: Nice, I am jealous

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2016, 06:01:11 am
content: I heard they actually do make a feint sound, but I was on the highway and there was still some industrial stuff where I was so I could hear feint noises of equipment/hvac and distant traffic in the background (there was maybe like a car every couple minutes that went by and the sound lasts quite a bit when it's that quiet/late at night)Apparently it does wreck havoc on certain radio bands like shortwave.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2016, 06:25:34 am
content: The 4thone is fascinating!Thank you.

author: IsabellaSmith
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 03, 2016, 12:28:59 pm
content: Amazing photos, especially the last three are superb to me. Great job!Can I use one your photos as a wallpaper?

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2016, 06:43:58 pm
content: I was thinking of using them as wallpapers too.Is there any higher resolution available (4K monitor), please?

author: suku
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2016, 08:44:17 pm
content: That is just wow, nice job!

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2016, 09:52:27 pm
content: Sure you can use as wallpaper. Been doing that myself and switching it around every now and then.I kinda messed up when I converted them and made them too small as I'm learning a new program (my new linux distro does not have a package for program I used before), but when I get the chance I can get some higher res ones up. I still have the raw files.EDIT:Here's a link to higher resolution versions, was easier to just pack them all up in a tar file:http://redsquirrel.me/misc/northernlights-sept-2016.tar.gz

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2016, 04:05:52 am
content: Got them. Beautiful!Thank you very much.

author: thunderbuny
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2016, 12:01:00 am
content: woow soooo cool i wish i had that light show but nope not in the netherlandsgreat pics

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2016, 12:57:23 am
content: Does it mean more ESD risk at your locality?

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2016, 09:47:03 am
content: Not sure about ESD, but there might actually more more magnetic radiation. From what I've heard it wrecks havoc on short wave radio. Might have other effects too.Would be interesting to have a very wide spectrum radio of sorts (maybe just a ham radio?) to see if it generates any specific noise or something.

author: mzzj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2016, 10:51:12 am
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on October 02, 2016, 12:25:57 amNice photos, especially since you are located in the southern EuropeI just had a holiday in northern Finland/Norway, north of 70N. Saw some quite pretty auroras in Hammerfest but I was more amazed of the weather. +18C on daytime and +16 when it was already enough dark to see northern lights

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2016, 11:31:36 pm
content: Northern Ontario Canada, actually.The weather was nice here too though, it was probably like 10C or so. In fact it's been nice all fall. We did not even get any snow yet.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2016, 03:06:44 am
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on October 06, 2016, 09:47:03 am

author: Bryan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2016, 10:15:22 am
content: Is that the big dipper constellation I see in pictures 1 and 2?

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2016, 01:45:20 pm
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on October 06, 2016, 09:47:03 amNot magnetic radiation, but synchrotron radiation, more like very low energy X rays from the spiralling electrons in the magnetic field. Can also have a lot more energetic particles that are going to hit you there as well, but only an issue if you are flying there for a decade at high altitude, and are sitting on a chair outside the cabin of an aircraft. The air at low altitude or the thin aluminium can you fly in attenuates a lot of this energy.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2016, 01:18:46 am
content: Quote from: Bryan on October 09, 2016, 10:15:22 amYep it is, it's actually in a lot of the pics if you look carefully, it was pretty much in the north. Took a similar one last year too: