The day started with this email notice from Carey Oler.
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LOW LATITUDE LATITUDE AURORAL ACTIVITY WATCH
WATCH ISSUED: 23:35 UTC, 25 AUGUST
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VALID BEGINNING AT: 06:00 UTC ON
26 AUGUST
VALID UNTIL: 19:00 UTC ON 28 AUGUST
HIGH RISK PERIOD:
26 - 27 AUG (UTC days)
MODERATE RISK PERIOD:
28 AUG
PREDICTED ACTIVITY INDICES: 80,
60, 22, 12 (26 AUG - 29 AUG)
(INPUT INTO THE PREDICTIVE AURORA
SOFTWARE *)
POTENTIAL MAGNITUDE OF MIDDLE LATITUDE AURORAL ACTIVITY: HIGH TO VERY HIGH
POTENTIAL DURATION OF THIS ACTIVITY:
MAIN BELT = 24 TO 36 HOURS
MINOR BELT = 48 HOURS
ESTIMATED OPTIMUM OBSERVING CONDITIONS: NEAR LOCAL MIDNIGHT
EXPECTED LUNAR INTERFERENCE: NIL NEAR AND AFTER LOCAL MIDNIGHT
OVERALL OPPORTUNITY FOR OBSERVATIONS FROM MIDDLE LATITUDES: GOOD TO VERY GOOD
AURORAL ACTIVITY MAY BE OBSERVED APPROXIMATELY NORTH OF A LINE FROM...
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TO NORTHERN UTAH TO NORTHERN COLORADO TO NORTHERN
KANSAS TO MISSOURI TO KENTUCKY AND POSSIBLY NORTHERN TENNESSEE TO
NORTH CAROLINA.
ACTIVITY MAY ALSO BE OBSERVED APPROXIMATELY NORTH OF A LINE FROM...
CENTRAL FRANCE TO SOUTHERN GERMANY TO NORTHERN CZECHOSLOVAKIA TO
CENTRAL POLAND TO NOTHERN RUSSIA INCLUDING ALL OF GREAT BRITAIN, ALL
OF IRELAND, ALL OF NORWAY, ALL OF SWEDEN AND ALL OF FINLAND.
OBSERVATIONS OF STRONG ACTIVITY WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE FROM NEW
ZEALAND AND EXTREME SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA.
SYNOPSIS...
A major
coronal mass ejection is thought to be in-transit to the Earth
following yesterdays major class
X1.1/3B proton flare. The arrival of this
disturbance is expected anytime
between 06:00 UTC on 26 August and 24:00 UTC
on 26 August, with a preference
between 12:00 and 18:00 UTC on 26 August.
Auroral activity is expected to
rapidly reach major to severe storm levels
immediately to a few hours after
the arrival of the shock front associated
with the coronal mass ejection.
If conditions are as favorable as we expect
them to become, visible auroral
actiivty (at times very intense) could become
visible as far south as northern
California, Colorado, Kansas and North
Carolina (see above). This
is expected to be the strongest auroral storm so
far this solar cycle. Whether it
will reach that expectation remains to be
seen, but the potential certainly
exists.
Observers
in North America should therefore watch closely for activity
during the extreme pre-dawn hours
of 26 August and during the evening of
26/27 August. The main phase of
this disturbance could approach 24 hours in
duration, providing most of the
Earth's middle latitude regions with a good
opportunity to observe activity.
The moon
will also be out of the sky near and after local midnight,
which will provide optimum dark-sky
conditions for observing this event. As a
result, auroral activity may be
observed much farther south than would
otherwise be possible.
This watch
will remain in effect until 19:00 UTC on 28 August. It
will then be updated or allowed
to expire.
** End of Watch **
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It had been a long time since I had seen a good auroral display and never from a dark site so I decided to take a chance on this prediction and organized a last minute road trip to the family's cottage near Dorset, Ontario. I had never photographed an aurora before so I rushed out and bought some extra film (Fuji SuperG 800) and got my cameras and tripods ready. A quick call to a friend of mine who also loves astronomy and astrophography and we weere set to make the 3 hour drive after work. Well, sort of. I remembered that it might be a good idea to check with my wife and let her know what I was planning. Well wouldn't you know, she was actually interested in going too. We planned to leave right after work and come back in the morning (as soon as our 2 year old daugther Julia woke us up). My friend's wife also decided to go as she didn't have to be at work till noon the next day so the aurora expedtion was set. We arrived about 9:30pm in deep twilight. Stepping from the car I could immediately see moving green bands of light overhead. I rushed to set up my two cameras and tripods and began shooting pictures. I thought that the dock would be a great place to take some pictures from as it looked north over the lake. Below is a picture showing the big dipper and some nice green ansd yellow aurora.
I was so busy running between
2 cameras every 20-40 seconds snapping pictures that I was sweating buckets.
I layed down to take a break and take in the increadable beauty of the
show. There were arcs of light streting across the sky and moving from
north to south. Sublte pinks were visable from time to time and often violet
colurs could be seen. Suddenly bright pillars of light shot up from the
horizon to near the zenith and a magnificant coronal aurora began. Lying
on my back looking up I had a feeling of being in a space ship looking
back as I shooting through a lighted tunnel. The sequence below was shot
over about a 2 minute period but cannot convey just how fast the light
show was changing.
Every once in a while the aurora would subside and I would take a break from photographing. I planned some more shots over the lake and we all made our way down to the dock. I asked our wives to sit at the end of the dock and look out at the aurora as I took a picture of them and illuminted them with my red flashlight.
We observed the aurorae till
about 2:30am and then reluctanly I decided I better get some sleep for
the 3 hour drive home at 8 am. Here are some more photo's from the night.
Enjoy.
All photo's taken with a Pentax 50mm f~1.7 or 28mm f~2.8 lens on Fuji SuperG800 20-40 seconds. Copyright Stephen Barnes 1998