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Aurora rays - 20.9.2022 at 23.23 - 20.9.2022 at 23.43 Kokkola Observation number 109429

Visibility III / V

Tommy Lågland

I went on inspection trips to familiar, but rarely visited beaches, and had a few Model pictures taken in semi-darkness in mind for future autumn shooting evenings. The evening was cloudy, so nothing special was planned, and I only took a light backpack with the mandatory shooting glasses. In the twilight, I quickly took those test photos and they already showed a little green. As the evening darkened, the clouds thinned and the sky opened up and the northern lights also slightly activated.

The quick stop then stretched a little longer and the light hiking clothes started to regret a little. After enjoying the northern lights for a while, I took a few series of photos for the Milky Way stack on the way back to the car. I was waiting for the photo series to be completed when a slightly brighter ray started to stand out from the horizon.

When the light was on, a ray immediately jumped out of the camera's back screen, the color of which was exceptionally clear and different from the color of a "normal" ray. It turned pink without much other colors. I described that ray for approx. 20 minutes and it was clearly static in its location and a bit detached between the end of the arc and the Milky Way, until it slowly faded away.

Steve hasn't been hit by it himself, so I don't really have personal experiences of how and where it appears and what it looks like. Based on the pictures in the Aurora Bongar guide, it could be, but is it?

Edit: Added one wider view as a continuation of the pictures.



More similar observations
Additional information
  • Aurora brightness
    • Dim auroras
  • Observed aurora forms
    • Arc info

      ARC The arcs are wider than the bands and do not fold as strongly. The arcs are normally neither very bright nor active.

      The arc is probably the most common form of aurora. When aurora show is a calm arc in the low northern sky it often doesn’t evolve to anything more during night. In more active shows the arc is often the first form to appear and the last to disappear.

      The lower edge of the arc is usually sharp but the upper edge can gradually blend into the background sky. As activity increases rays and folds normally develop, and the arcs turn gradually into bands.

      An aurora arc runs across the picture. Vertical shapes are rays. Photo by Atacan Ergin.

      Aurora Arc. Photo by Mauri Korpi.

      Aurora Arc. Photo by Anna-Liisa Sarajärvi.

      Aurora Arc. Photo by Matti Asumalahti.

    • Rays info

      The raysare parallel to the lines of force of the magnetic field, i.e. quite vertical, usually less than one degree thick light streaks. The rays can occur alone or in connection with other shapes, mainly with arcs and bands. Short rays are usually brightest at the bottom but dim quickly. The longest rays, even extending almost from the horizon to the zenith, are usually uniformly bright and quite calm, and unlike the shorter rays, most often occur in groups of a few rays or alone. Rays, like bands, are a very typical form of aurora.

      Artificial light pillars, which are a halo phenomenon visible in ice mist, can sometimes be very similar to the rays of aurora. Confusion is possible especially when the lamps that cause the artificial light pillars are far away and not visible behind buildings or the forest. The nature of the phenomenon is clear at least from the photographs.

      Rays. Picture of Tom Eklund.

      Rays. Photo by Mika Puurula.

      Two beams rise from the aurora veil. Photo by Anssi Mäntylä.

      Two radial bands. Show Jani Lauanne.

      Radial band and veil. Photo by Jussi Alanenpää.

      Two rays. Photo by Aki Taavitsainen.

      It may be possible to confuse such rays with artificial light columns. Compare the image below. Picture of Tom Eklund.

      There is no aurora in this image, but all the light poles - including the wide and diffuse bar seen at the top left - are artificial light pillars born of ice mist. Photo by Sami Jumppanen.

      Aurora and artificial light pillars. All the radial shapes in the picture above are probably artificial light pillars that coincide appropriately with the aurora band. In the image below, the aurora band has shifted and does not overlap with the pillars produced by the orange bulbs. There is no orange in auroras. Photo by Katariina Roiha

    • Veil info

      Veil
      Veil is the most bland and very common form of aurora. It usually covers its homogeneous dim glow over a wide area of the sky at once. Most often, the veil is seen in the calmer and quiet phase of the night after the aurora maximum as a background for other forms. The veil can also occur alone and in that case it will be quite difficult to reliably identify as an aurora, especially at a observation site which has a lot of light pollution.

      A similar glow of light can also be caused by airborne moisture, smoke, or a very thin layer of clouds that reflects the light that hits them. However, clouds can also be used to identify veil, especially if the middle or upper cloud appears dark against a lighter background, then it is very likely to be aurora veil if the brightness of the background sky is not due to the rising or falling Moon or Sun. When photographing, very long exposure times usually reveal the green colour of the veil auroras.

      Veil and rays. Photo by Esa Palmi.
       

      Red aurora veil. Photo by Marko Mikkilä.

       

      Veil. Photo by Milla Myllymaa.

       

      Aurora veil that changes color from green at the lower edge through purple to blue at the top. Photo by Jaakko Hatanpää.

       

      Dim green veil. Photo by Jarmo Leskinen.

       

      Radial aurora band surrounded by veil. Photo by Jussi Alanenpää.

    • STEVE-arc info

      STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement), Pink, radial aurora-like arc  . The STEVE arc is seen clearly separated from the main aurora arc of the northern sky. It forms a long and narrow west-east aligned, usually dim form. It does not belong to traditional auroras as a phenomenon, but may appear same time with them. Occasionally there may also be a green, "toothed" band called ”picket fence” at the bottom of Steve.  

      Riku Talvio, STEVE
      Photo by: Riku Talvio

  • Colors with unaided eye and other features
    • Green auroras info

      Green, seen with the naked eye, is one the most common colors of the aurora. The green color is derived from atomic oxygen.

      Green auroras. Lea Rahtu-Korpela.

      Green auroras. Photo by Juha Ojanperä.

Comments: 4 pcs
Pentti Arpalahti - 22.9.2022 at 13.13 Report this

Laajempi näkymä eittämättä ansaitsee attribuutin eeppinen!

Juha Ojanperä - 22.9.2022 at 14.03 Report this

Komppaan Penttiä, tuollaisia näkymiä soisi näkevän täällä useamminkin! :)

Tommy Lågland - 22.9.2022 at 19.02 Report this

Kiitos palautteista :)  Noita leveitä tulee paljon otettua, mutta tämäntyyppinen koktaili taivaan osalta on kyllä tuon yhden säteen mukanaolon myötä harvinaisempi, saas nähdä jääkö ainokaiseksi. Vielä paremmin tämäkin koktaili toimisi kevättalvella, tuo linnunrata kaartaa näin syksyllä vähän hankalasti. Mutta mukavahan näitä on taltioida ja kunhan tuohon etualaan saisi jotain mukaan niin korkeus näissä kasvaisi, tämäkin pääsi taas näkymänä yllättämään. 

Eero Karvinen - 22.9.2022 at 20.02 Report this

Kyllähän tuo hyvin klassiselta STEVE:ltä vaikuttaa!

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