After chasing it for more than two years I was finally rewarded with two displays of Auroa Australis (Southern lights) within a week visible from Mornington Peninsula, not far from Melbourne. The nights were warm an clear and the Moon was not in the sky either – I could not have asked for better conditions.
The red color of this aurora is caused by the charged particles from the Sun exciting oxygen atoms high in the Earth’s atmosphere. Hopefully there will be more to come as Sun’s activity increases in 2012-13.
Being able to photograph it all night I came up with a nice video. The brighter Aurora happened on January 22nd and the smaller one, featured in the middle section, was from January 16th followed by a rather bright Moonrise.
Tags: Aurora
Aside from the Aurora, is that sky really visible like that in that part of Australia? Never ever seen anything like that, it is amazing.
Yes, you need to be far away from man made lights to see sky like that. The southern horison in Flinders is above the ocean so that helps.
hi. first, it is a excellent work!!! beautiful!!
i have some questions for you:
did you use some software like twixtor?
i want to know the features of the photos, like the focus, the expusure time, etc.
did you use an equatorial mount?
I would be very grateful if you could answer me.
sorry for my english.
greetings from uruguay
Thanks!
The exposure parameters were 30 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 3200, untracked. Focusing in Live View on a star.
For panning I just use Alt-Az motorised mount.
I assemble the time lapses in Sony Vegas, no extra software used.
Hi sir fantastic work of course. How did you defeat the star streaking/trails in a 30″ exposure. Did software help? if you can help i just want to make a nice galactic picture. 2.8 on a 16 – 35 lens or 14mm canon 5D im guessing, thought you may of gone to bulb for the crazy long streaking(circle).
thank you very much
Thanks, at 14-20 mm on FF sensor you can go up to 30 seconds without noticeable star trails. For star trails I just stack 30 second exposures using Maximum function
Stellar again love it, yeah D700 is a real beast feels like a TANK.
Ok stacking them makes sense, with 30 sec i see about 2mm star trails(tear drop shaped) Crop sensor. recommend a 1.4 lens (not very wide but more light absorption) 24 1.4
Hey Mate,
WOW! I get the same view from Cape Woolamai but have never been able to capture the beauty like that. hats off to a fantastic set-up and technique! Out of curiosity, what time was the aurora visible?
I’ll keep coming back to see your work.
cheers
dale
Thanks!
Yes it was amazing. No significant color but strong grey/blue columns moving slowly across the horison. Pretty much like a black and white version of the video.
Great video! I’ve only ever seen the sky like that once whilst camping in the middle of WA. Truely an amazing sight.
Thanks for sharing.
Magical immenseness!
Fanatstic images and video! Really specatular work. I would love to see this in person at least once in my life.
For the third and fourth photos at the top of this page.., what techinique did you use to accomplish that background with the stars?
Wow, stunning. That made my day, thanks!
That is without a doubt one of the most amazing videos I have ever seen.
Thanks!
Mate, absolutely beautiful! The best I have seen, (I’m a member of an international astronomy site) as you show great artistry with the capturing of the stars, the Aurora and the dawn, just beautiful. When I was 7, in Grade 2, in Adelaide, my dad took us out the front of our home to see an Aurora Australis. It was huge! A giant red shimmering and moving red curtain of light, so bright, yet we lived just a few miles out of the city, in Brighton Gardens. I was terrified! But, at school, we were asked to draw what we saw; I still have that drawing today and my dad, being science minded and a brilliant exploration geologist, inspired my love of the heavens and the natural world. Thanks again, you brought it all back for me, and a lovely memory of my dad. Cheers, Justin
wow….!!!!…amazing….great work, thank you…wish I had a view like these from here in las vegas, but we have too much light pollution….appreciate what you are doing…!!!!
Hi,
Thanks for your fantastic video. I’m from Melbourne and despite being a regular hiker down at the Prom and in the high country, have never seen anything like that here or realised it occurs.
Are there websites which predict when solar activity will be most likely to generate an aurora in Victoria?
Does the aurora look like your video when viewed by the naked eye? i.e. the moving waves of colours etc.
Thanks for any advice!
Cheerio
Adrian
Hi Adrian,
What I saw visually that night was a black-and-white version of the video. There were columns of grey light moving slowly across the horison. To see thye colour the light would have to be more intense meaning stronger geaomagnetic storm.
I use these two pages as my main Aurora prediction tool:
www.swpc.noaa.gov/forecast.html
www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/OverviewS.html
Cheers,
Alex
Thanks Alex, appreciate the response.
All the best.
Adrian.
Dear Alex,
I’m Korean and I saw your great photo through internet.
You did really great job and I can feel your efforts.
Thank you for sharing such a gorgeous view.
Kind Regards,
Leo Jun
This is so beautiful…brings tears to my eyes! Thank you for sharing the wonder and awe of our universe–a gift, indeed!
Neita
Missouri Ozarks, USA