Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) over Ireland, Jan 2005 |
| A
huge X-class solar flare, said to have been the biggest to erupt from
the Sun since 1989, was seen by the SOHO satellite on January 21st,
2005. When it hit Earth, it caused huge displays of the Aurora Borealis
in the northern hemiphere. Some of this display was briefly visible
from Ireland, but cloudy conditions spoilt much of the event for Irish
astronomers. |
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Believe
it or not, this is the best photo I got the whole night! The conditions
were pretty bad, although there was some break in the cloud at
this time. The photo was taken around 10.10pm and was a 20-second
exposure with a Nikon
D70. You can just about make out the green "curtains"
of light, although there are plenty of other colours in the sky
in this photo, which was taken in a fairly urban location in Drogheda.
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Another
shot which just about shows the aurora, which is the greenish
band across the middle of the photo, more noticeable on the right.
The handle of the Plough is visible to the upper right. Again,
taken in an urban location in Drogheda, County Louth.
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I've
darkened this photo somewhat because it was overexposed. The lights
along the bottom are those along the M1 where it meets the Boyne
Cable Bridge, which is just out of picture on the left. At
bottom is the Boyne river. Again the aurora shows up as a greenish
band across the middle of the photo.
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Not
to waste the night, myself and Richard Moore drove out the Boyne
Valley to see if we could glimpse the aurora under darker conditions
- even though the Moon was approaching full. When we got to Newgrange
there was a dense fog. The above photo shows all that we could
see of Newgrange - a lone standing stone and some light beams
- kind of apt really! Click
here to see Newgrange and the aurora on a different night.
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The
conditions weren't much better up on the Hill of Slane, where
I snapped this photo showing how the fog brought out the light
beams.
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The
conditions all made for a very surreal atmosphere. No, there was
no alien activity going on behind these bushes - just mist and fog
lit by the street lights and neon signs at a local garage! |
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| Having
given up on seeing any decent display of the Northern Lights, myself
and Richard turned to creative photography, taking the above shots
of the ruins on the Hill
of Slane. |
See
more astronomy photographs here |
