Northern Lights

[LilAlex]

Forgot to add: Big Dipper and Little Dipper

 

[canuk-gal]

Forgot to add: Big Dipper and Little Dipper

Wonderful!!!! Next time, I'm going with you guys to a cemetery!

 

[Starstruck8]

And THIS is why you don't believe the IG cell phone photos of gems! Never seen clearer examples of the outrageously boosted iPhone saturation than all of these aurora examples.

Oh, but back to my actual point. We had clear skies and are pretty far north and we're aurora virgins -- so it was startling and magical. The striae were quite bright and reached from horizon to zenith but with just the barest hints of colors. My phone photos, OTOH, could be on the cover of National Geographic .

I was waiting for someone to say this.

That said, I'm impressed that cell phones (with tiny sensors) can take pictures in near-total darkness at all. With my (admittedly ancient and amateur-level) DSLR, these sorts of pictures would require a long exposure and a tripod. There must be some serious computational processing going on. And there is no doubt some serious 'enhancement' built into the mix.

Still, I love looking at the pictures! Here in Brisbane (27.5 degrees South), with cloudy skies and city lights, I won't get to see the auroras for myself. So keep the pictures coming, folks!

 

[VRBeauty]

I was waiting for someone to say this.

That said, I'm impressed that cell phones (with tiny sensors) can take pictures in near-total darkness at all. With my (admittedly ancient and amateur-level) DSLR, these sorts of pictures would require a long exposure and a tripod. There must be some serious computational processing going on. And there is no doubt some serious 'enhancement' built into the mix.

Still, I love looking at the pictures! Here in Brisbane (27.5 degrees South), with cloudy skies and city lights, I won't get to see the auroras for myself. So keep the pictures coming, folks!

Absolutely! To the heightened saturation! On the other hand, I’m glad the camera allowed me to “see” what I wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise - to cut through the ambient light.

Still, seeing the northern lights is on our bucket list, and the iPhone-assisted version doesn’t quite tick that box!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I should have made more of an effort to look! Goodness knows I was awake! (insomnia...)

ditto
a missed oppertunity at both end of the earth
it is now raining, not that we should complain because the ground is pretty dry after a freezing but sunny frosty week

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I was waiting for someone to say this.

That said, I'm impressed that cell phones (with tiny sensors) can take pictures in near-total darkness at all. With my (admittedly ancient and amateur-level) DSLR, these sorts of pictures would require a long exposure and a tripod. There must be some serious computational processing going on. And there is no doubt some serious 'enhancement' built into the mix.

Still, I love looking at the pictures! Here in Brisbane (27.5 degrees South), with cloudy skies and city lights, I won't get to see the auroras for myself. So keep the pictures coming, folks!

this makes me feel slightly better looking at the photos taken from Dunedin, that were making me feel homesick, what i remember seeing when i was a teen needed a slight stretch of the imangination

 

[Lookinagain]

It was a cloudy night here last night. I couldn't even see one star in the sky. I stayed up until 2 a.m. hoping it would clear and I could see something but nada, nothing, zilch. Bummer.

 

[Calliecake]

I’m so disappointed I missed this. I had been out shopping for my mom and retuned home around 8:30 PM that night and didn’t notice anything. I can’t believe I was watching 20/20 as @AprilBaby was taking her fantastic pictures.

Thank you to everyone who post their photos.

 

[Rfisher]

We had clear skies last night, but nothing visible even thru camera. Are planning on looking tonight as well.

 

[Avondale]

The iPhone camera picked up a much more colorful sky than our eyes did - we attribute it to our cameras being much younger than our eyes - LOL! Actually, I’ve no idea what causes that phenomenon, but I appreciated it tonight! I’m hoping we’ll be able to pick up those more saturated colors without camera assist at some point in the next day or two.

Actually, the reason is a biological "flaw" in our own eyes.

We have two types of light sensitive cells on our retina. One type recognises colours, but needs sufficient light in order to activate, so to speak. The other type allows us to see in low light, but doesn't have colour perception. That's the reason everything we see during the night when there is barely any light, we see in black and white.

The aurora is the same. You can actually see the colour - if it's strong and bright enough in order to activate the colour sensitive cells in your eyes. But that's a very rare occasion. For us, it's usually white.

Cameras don't have this flaw. They always see the colour. All cameras - phones and full frame sensors alike. The aurora really is this colour. It's just that we can't see it.

To illustrate my point - this photo is from Abisko, Sweden, 22nd of January, 2023, on the night of a beautiful and bright aurora. The first picture is straight from the camera, with the basic camera jpg editing (not the raw file). The second photo is the raw file I edited to show how it looks to the human eye - mostly b&w with a vague green tint.

 

[LilAlex]

One of our kids had the good fortune of leading a backcountry camping trip in the (Michigan) UP this weekend and saw this. He said it was crazy dark skies and, although the green was less pronounced than the photo shows, it was unmistakably green. (I think this was the same group of friends he drove to see totality a month ago -- so he's apparently a good guy to know!)

 

[Kim N]

I had never seen them before, but they've been on my bucket list for so long. They were absolutely spectacular.

These are from May 10. I would say my eyes saw about 65% of the intensity that the camera saw.

 

[Lookinagain]

I'm so jealous of everyone who got to either see or photograph them. Cloudy and rainy here tonight. I can't even see the moon. Was hoping that this bucket list item would have been crossed off but not now. I guess I need a trip to Iceland or Norway, or somewhere else!

 

[marcy]

They might be active again tonight or tomorrow night. There was another huge solar flare that is coming our way.

Here’s a fe of my photos.

 

[Lookinagain]

I have to quit looking at this thread because the green eyed monster is coming out

 

[Calliecake]

They might be active again tonight or tomorrow night. There was another huge solar flare that is coming our way.

Here’s a fe of my photos.

Thank you for letting us know @marcy.

 

[SparklieBug]

I have seen northern lights the color of the first photo. They were “close”, and we were where we were living, at a high latitude.

We had a neighbourhood outdoor potluck last night, hoping to see more lights. DH was sharing how he had seen, only once, northern lights that were blood red. Not on camera but with his physical eyes.

I’ve seen hot magenta pink before, and well before cell phones.

It was after midnight last night when I gave up and went to sleep. No northern lights, and tonight’s cloudy.

 

[Arcadian]

I didn't get any images but it could be seen down here. I saw some amzing images from Florida Keys!

 

[Eli22]

This made me LOL

 

[kenny]

LOL
That reminds me ...

I didn't get to see the aurora!
Then many of you got to see it, and post their pics, that I got really jealous.
So I wanted to post a pic too ...

 

[Madam Bijoux]

Northern Lights over Stonehenge (I did not take this picture).