Lights but
not Northern
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The Auroa Borealis danced over Edinburgh last night but rarely to the north, much more to the east and sometimes to the west.
I first caught it down at the bridges, and to be honest I wish I’d just stayed there for later shenanigans but the amount of light pollution was putting me off, so…
I headed to Blackford Hill, which was like a crazy summerfest vibe of folk hanging out staring at the sky, pointing their phones and asking each other “can you see anything” and which could really have benefitted with a band or two, or even just a few folk strumming along on acoustic guitars and handing out big fat cigarettes. A pizza wagon would have made THOUSANDS.
I’ve had mixed feelings about Aurora shots for many years, so would be interested in hearing from other photographers about their thoughts on the subject. Are “Big” cameras necessary or should we rely on phone cameras with sensors 1/20th the size but with really smart AI to tell them how to display it?
I didn’t go out last night despite the truly amazing shots appearing on the local site. Last time the Aurora occurred I read that the colours were what the camera picked up, not actually what was seen and I felt a bit cheated. I have seen the Aurora only twice in my life and each time it was a very pale green glow in the night sky, not the fantastic reds oranges and purples apparently “seen” here last night. Should I regret being lazy and staying in? I’m not sure!
Recently due to being at the peak of solar activity the Aurora has been seen and recorded throughout the UK. Only last week, fine images were posted on our local Facebook page (Suffolk coast) taken with mobile phones. When taking shots with my MFT camera on a cruise to Norway a couple of years ago, I was telling people that the Aurora was present as the camera was picking it up before it could be seen by the naked eye, but when they 'danced' moved quickly and seen by the naked eye, my wife's mobile phone captured fine images!