Skywarden

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Skywarden,
Ursa Astronomical Association
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00130 Helsinki
taivaanvahti(at)ursa.fi

Ursa Astronomical Association

All-sky aurora - 8.9.2017 at 22.00 - 9.9.2017 at 00.00 Inari Observation number 67084

Visibility V / V

Teemu Saramäki

The stars hit, so to speak, on the second weekend in September, when the Sun posed for a record-breaking X9.3 eruption on Wednesday, September 6th. and the following day on Thursday 7.9. was the departure to Saariselkä for a friend's wedding. The car's container came packed with a camera, a pair of tubes and a tripod "just in case". Friday 8.9. during the day came, in addition to church exercises, an observed sky that was sometimes cloudier and sometimes clearer. Towards evening, however, the cloudiness began to decrease and the cloud radar promised a clear view of northern Lapland from Russia.

Without its greater drama, the evening was spent with dinner and when we returned to the cottage, the northern lights were already starting to appear on the cottage terrace after 8 p.m. At 10pm we decided to go out with my cohabitant to see what was visible. The sight was quite dismal: In the light of the rising moon, the eyes saw little to nothing interesting, but the camera saw a pair of really pale arcs in the southern sky and individual rays appeared in the northern sky. The freezing past was described to the north for about an hour and then the buttons on the ice were decided to return to the cottage.

From the corner of the cottage it was decided to still peek into the southern sky before going to dinner. There were small brightnesses above the arch, just like in Anttola a year ago in the fall before a decent explosion. The same pattern was repeated now and in the past a lifeless and dim arc quickly exploded into a huge wall of light right in front of our eyes! The arch began to creep in shades of green, blue, and purple above and a little everywhere. Korona visited above a couple of times, especially in the early part of the show. The shutter speed had to be lowered from the camera to 1-2 seconds and with 11mm (body) it didn't really know which direction to shoot.

The screen lasted maybe 30-40 minutes and near midnight the screen started to fade and so did the energy of the graphs. The memory cards were photographed full of stunning pictures, so we got to go happy to sleep. This show was definitely among the top three of the shows I witnessed!



More similar observations
Additional information
  • Aurora brightness
    • Very bright auroras
  • Observed aurora forms
    • 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

    • 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.

Technical information

EOS 70D + 11-16mm f / 2.8

Comments: 3 pcs
Emma Bruus - 18.9.2017 at 23.22 Report this

No siellä on kyllä ollut huikea meno! Mahtavat otokset

Antero Ohranen - 19.9.2017 at 07.56 Report this

Hienot tulet ja kuvat!

Pirjo Koski - 19.9.2017 at 13.48 Report this

Hirmusen samantyyppiset ovat olleet, kuin muutamana edellisenäkin iltana (Utsjoki). Komeet kuvat!

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