Infinity shaped Aurora

[Kanadalainen]

The particular image was striking as it looks (to me) to mimic an infinity sign. Some indigenous peoples (and others) assign significance to this symbol - hope you like it.

I was shooting deep sky targets in the southern sky on my big rig, and was backlit by this display. There is NO WAY anyone can image to the north with all of this going on - your DSO's become saturated with greens, purples etc. However, I have a weakness for them and bring the little 60D Canon with a Rokinon 10mm f2.8 lens out just for this purpose.

This one is my first aurora shot of this season - I shoot them in between galaxy images in widefiled and my deep space stuff (when I get the rig working properly). This aurora followed an appearance of what may have been an example of STEVE - an example of which I have captured a year ago here: https://astrob.in/hvrdeq/B/

I visited my dark site for the second night in a row - having had some clouds the previous night. The aurora on the previous evening were silent however yesterday evening were extremely active and began shortly after midnight.

In this image there is a significant amount of purple hue to the aurora, rising from the common greenish base. I haven't seen the purple emissions this strong since 2017, when I first began imaging aurora on my little backup rig.

While I was setting up my rig a black bear wandered out onto the road and we regarded each other for 5 minutes. He then decided astro was boring and took off.

Thanks for looking!

[Kanadalainen]

Duplicate - senior moment. ha ha

[Juno16]

That’s beautiful Ian.

[KathyNS]

Wow, that's a beauty!

[Kanadalainen]

That’s beautiful Ian.

Thanks Jim.

[Kanadalainen]

Wow, that's a beauty!

Hi Kathy, thanks!

[Thefatkitty]

Ian, that is stunning! I actually said out loud "Wow!" to no-one at all...

Too bad it ruined your original purpose, but I think it was worth it!

Hope everything is good

[Kanadalainen]

Ian, that is stunning! I actually said out loud "Wow!" to no-one at all...

Too bad it ruined your original purpose, but I think it was worth it!

Hope everything is good

Hi Mark! Yep all is well. We have a new cat (Eowen/Sauron - depending upon her mood), and the kids are grown up. Summer is here too, so I am finding some time here and there to get out and shoot some DSO's.

I just plan on the aurora and shoot summertime Messiers in the south.. I have a some data to process and will be posting soon. I hope all is well in Montreal my friend.

Salut

[bobharmony]

Very nice, Ian. I am a bit jealous, no aurora here - ever! I'm glad the bear decided that AP is a waste.

Bob

[JayTee]

Oh, the horror of it! To be plagued by such an exquisite phenomenon. It is quite the dilemma, should I look south or should I look north?

I envy your northern view but would be and am (you're only 2.5°north of me) somewhat distressed by your southern view.

A stunning aurora image from you, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

[messier 111]

magnificent image , thx .

[Kanadalainen]

Very nice, Ian. I am a bit jealous, no aurora here - ever! I'm glad the bear decided that AP is a waste.

Bob

Hi Bob,
Thanks - > the bear must frequent the area as i saw and heard him much of both nights I was there. He was accompanied by a small pack of deer and 2 fox cubs. The bush was crawling with critters.

[Kanadalainen]

Oh, the horror of it! To be plagued by such an exquisite phenomenon. It is quite the dilemma, should I look south or should I look north?

I envy your northern view but would be and am (you're only 2.5°north of me) somewhat distressed by your southern view.

A stunning aurora image from you, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Thanks JT.. Its always a pleasure to see 'em. Some of my astro friends become very grouchy when the aurora begin to rock and roll.. Honestly I was going to try my luck on the Iris Nebula but instead went after M20.

[Kanadalainen]

magnificent image , thx .

Thanks 111 - > I'm pleased that you like it!

[BABOafrica]

We don't get many aurora images posted for obvious reasons.

So this one is exceptional on two counts. Aurora in the frame and a beautiful image of it.

BABO

[Kanadalainen]

Thanks BABO!

[Johnny Carter]

I have never seen one in person, amazing image.

[Kanadalainen]

I have never seen one in person, amazing image.

They are fun to image. It never gets old.

[Dyno05]

Great shot!!! I was out shooting Milky Way images in northern NH at the same time as this. I wasn’t looking north. I was flipping through my frames and I see this weird cloud type effect moving across my images but I never saw any clouds. The next day I saw there was auroras visible around midnight from the mount Washington observatory. I was like damn, why didn’t I look north. Anyways, when I was processing the images there’s a total green glow visible. Also, a few guys with phones were trying to get some shots facing straight up and also towards the east and there was a crazy purple look on the bottom. I didn’t know if it was really something there or an anomaly. I pointed my camera over there and took one 40” sub. I didn’t notice anything on the tiny screen, but the next day after seeing the mount Washington photo I looked at that eastward image and boosted the levels and there’s clearly green and purple spikes in it. I’m so upset I missed out on shooting an Aurora. It’s totally bucket list for me. I live in a Bortle 7 area and normally shoot Bortle 5-6 at latitude 41, but I’m currently away at latitude 44 in Bortle 2. Tomorrow supposed to be clear so I will go out again.
Edit. I was out July third. The day after.

[Kanadalainen]

Great shot!!! I was out shooting Milky Way images in northern NH at the same time as this. I wasn’t looking north. I was flipping through my frames and I see this weird cloud type effect moving across my images but I never saw any clouds. The next day I saw there was auroras visible around midnight from the mount Washington observatory. I was like damn, why didn’t I look north. Anyways, when I was processing the images there’s a total green glow visible. Also, a few guys with phones were trying to get some shots facing straight up and also towards the east and there was a crazy purple look on the bottom. I didn’t know if it was really something there or an anomaly. I pointed my camera over there and took one 40” sub. I didn’t notice anything on the tiny screen, but the next day after seeing the mount Washington photo I looked at that eastward image and boosted the levels and there’s clearly green and purple spikes in it. I’m so upset I missed out on shooting an Aurora. It’s totally bucket list for me. I live in a Bortle 7 area and normally shoot Bortle 5-6 at latitude 41, but I’m currently away at latitude 44 in Bortle 2. Tomorrow supposed to be clear so I will go out again.
Edit. I was out July third. The day after.

Great story... if you are not used to them the aurora can sneak up on you! Bortle 2 is a beautiful sky for seeing these. Cheers and happy hunting!