Cumulus Support

Some pictures of tonight's aurora.

Wow! I guess you need to live way up north to see those...

Paul

Spectacular! There is a chance for us to see it even this far south tonight...

Yes, it was visible from a large part of the UK this time.

What a great view you had Steve. Your good lady wife take those with her trusty Canon?

Mark, I've never seen them yet. Being 10 miles south of Manchester is far from ideal.

RayProudfoot wrote:What a great view you had Steve. Your good lady wife take those with her trusty Canon?

Yes indeed, an EOS 6D.

Stunning!
I would love to be able to see one in person some time.

RayProudfoot wrote: Mark, I've never seen them yet. Being 10 miles south of Manchester is far from ideal.

True, but I witnessed a fantastic display from Llandudno a few years back - a friend and I drove out there as the satellite image showed it was just out of the cloud cover over Manchester and the Peak District. We drove some way round the Gt. Orme road, nothing in view except the Irish Sea and the aurora. We could see it coming over in waves from the northern horizon to past overhead, very dynamic, I wasn't expecting how fast some of the movement was.

Lucky man! Having never seem it is it very dim? Would the lights of a big city just drown it out even if it was a strong display?

RayProudfoot wrote:Lucky man! Having never seem it is it very dim? Would the lights of a big city just drown it out even if it was a strong display?

Depends how high in the sky and how strong the display. This far south most of them that are visible hug the northern horizon so would be in too much glow from the city. Some patches can be quite bright, we knew we were in for a good display at Llandudno when the odd gaps between the clouds on the way there were bright rather than dark! The 'curtains' you see in most photo's are the brightest parts, but there can be much fainter bands that appear white (they may be below our colour perception threshold) that are much faster moving and dynamic - you would not see that if you were anywhere near artificial lights.

Basically, if you want to see it clearly, you need to make the effort to get somewhere dark.

I have seen a display as far south as Norfolk - but that was a horizon hugger over the sea.

Thanks for that Mark. The current opportunity has gone 'cos of the weather but I'll try and make an effort next time. Peak District might be an option.