aslkahuna Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 The activity in 1989 and 2003 was beyond awesome as active red aurbos were seen in SE Arizona and even into Mexico. In fact, we had major AZ displays in 1991, 2001, 2002,2003, 2004 and 2005 based upon my photos. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professional Lurker Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 ok very brightYeah, but would it matter that the bz sucks right now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juliancolton Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 What you can get away with for ISO settings totally depends on your camera. If you've got noise, it's set too high. My camera is over a decade old and has horrible noise above ISO 200. New cameras supposedly maintain decent quality and go up to 1600 or even 3200. Secret tip: Leave your camera outside. Excessive grain/noise issues can be caused by heat on your cameras sensor, so keeping it cold makes a big difference. You can really see this in action if you look at dendrites webcam in the winter vs summer. I know for a fact that the Nikon D610 is very clean up to 6400, and useable much higher... and that's a "prosumer" model, not by any means top-of-theline. It's just outrageous the amount of information that modern digital sensors are able to glean from what are essentially stray photons. I mostly use my old D5000 on nights like tonight, when "good enough" quality will suffice, and I'll be leaving it by itself at times. It's definitely noisier, but one can generally compensate for mediocre cameras with a fast enough lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Caught a nice arc tonight but not really and pillars or curtains. The clouds moved in so I am sure it improved after. Will post some shots soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Yeah, but would it matter that the bz sucks right now? It'll matter in about an hour. The satellite that measures the data is way out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I know for a fact that the Nikon D610 is very clean up to 6400, and useable much higher... and that's a "prosumer" model, not by any means top-of-theline. It's just outrageous the amount of information that modern digital sensors are able to glean from what are essentially stray photons. I mostly use my old D5000 on nights like tonight, when "good enough" quality will suffice, and I'll be leaving it by itself at times. It's definitely noisier, but one can generally compensate for mediocre cameras with a fast enough lens. Wow, that's really great. I've kinda fallen out of photography so I'm not too up to date with the extent of the improvements. Being able to take shorter exposures would really come in handy tonight. My hands are like ice and I have to hold the shutter down because I don't have a cable release thingy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Here are a few shots. To the naked eye they were a little brighter than the Milky Way at its peak but the color was definitely pretty clear. Obviously with longer exposures you get a brighter image. The clouds moved in shortly after these were shot and that was it for the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Pretty impressive how skillfully it managed to start fizzling as soon as the sun set. Best photo I could manage from tonight with frozen hands and 300mph wind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Great shots. Seeing the Milky Way is on my list of things to do as well lol Thank you. The shooting conditions were rough with 30-40 mph wind gusts at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Thank you. The shooting conditions were rough with 30-40 mph wind gusts at times. What type of camera do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 What type of camera do you have? Nikon D300 with a 24-75mm Nikkor lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juliancolton Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Well at least we weren't let down after eagerly anticipating a major event for 72 hours or something (that's happened enough this cycle. I had almost forgotten about this CME until the indices started going bonkers this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Well at least we weren't let down after eagerly anticipating a major event for 72 hours or something (that's happened enough this cycle. I had almost forgotten about this CME until the indices started going bonkers this morning. I saw the animation of the CME and wrote it off.... it didn't look too impressive... certainly didn't expect a G4 storm from it. Figured it would be a nice show for Alaska. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I am sure the show would have been far more impressive had the storm peaked after sunset when the Bz was below -20 at one point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Apparently the only thing we do well at is snow. We suck at tropics,severe,tornados,droughts,and Auroras.Wow https://www.flickr.com/groups/noaaauroras/pool/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juliancolton Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Here's the "best" shot of the night, out of something like 400. Kind of a deeper shade of green than I'm used to... more in-line with what someone would use for St. Paddy's Day. Festive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Here's the "best" shot of the night, out of something like 400. Kind of a deeper shade of green than I'm used to... more in-line with what someone would use for St. Paddy's Day. Festive! Was this with the D5000? I'm super jealous of how clean and crisp it is. Really makes my camera (Nikon 8700) look pretty sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juliancolton Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Was this with the D5000? I'm super jealous of how clean and crisp it is. Really makes my camera (Nikon 8700) look pretty sad. Yup. f/2.4 and ISO 1250 for 15 seconds, unedited jpeg. I'd be happy to give you some suggestions if you decide to start looking into new gear, though in today's day any basic dslr and lens kit would probably produce some decent results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dendrite Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 There still appears to be a faint greenish glow to the north with the naked eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Nothing visible here, but the sky is brightening so that might be ruining it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professional Lurker Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Pretty impressive how skillfully it managed to start fizzling as soon as the sun set. Best photo I could manage from tonight with frozen hands and 300mph wind. Hey, that white house in the foreground looks familiar. ...must be your go-to aurora shot. I've got a similar one. I've got great views to the south, east, and west. ...but my north views are really limited. Definitely blows that it fizzled. Looking at it all afternoon, I knew deep down in the back of my mind that it couldn't last. I experimented last night with my new sony a58. Have no idea where my tripod was hiding, so it was an adventure. Next time I'll be sure to have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juliancolton Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Cool VIIRS nighttime image showing the band of aurora over southern Canada this morning. A wider and less pronounced view: and IR from the same time, for reference: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Back up to a G2 now as per SPWC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Weird that this thread is dead but just saw northern lights over Bartlett for the first time tonight. Faint greenish glow, pulsing between weaker and stronger. Very cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Weird that this thread is dead but just saw northern lights over Bartlett for the first time tonight. Faint greenish glow, pulsing between weaker and stronger. Very cool. Last night was a good example of what a G1 geomagnetic storm will look like on a moonless night in NNE. Faint, but visible if you're looking. They're never really reported or acknowledged because they're common, occurring on roughly 900 days each solar cycle. Last night was somewhat noteworthy for a G1 in that the activity was weirdly high in the sky, meaning it was closer than normal. Also, as you noted the pulsing effect is a bit unexpected at such low activity levels. When I saw it, a small patch of sky would gradually get brighter over about 15 seconds and then abruptly fade out over about 2 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Last night was a good example of what a G1 geomagnetic storm will look like on a moonless night in NNE. Faint, but visible if you're looking. They're never really reported or acknowledged because they're common, occurring on roughly 900 days each solar cycle. Last night was somewhat noteworthy for a G1 in that the activity was weirdly high in the sky, meaning it was closer than normal. Also, as you noted the pulsing effect is a bit unexpected at such low activity levels. When I saw it, a small patch of sky would gradually get brighter over about 15 seconds and then abruptly fade out over about 2 seconds. That's exactly how it was happening! I need to start paying attention to the sky, I didn't realize it was so common... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 That's exactly how it was happening! I need to start paying attention to the sky, I didn't realize it was so common... Since moving to work at GYX, I've seen them at the office at least a half dozen times in 5 years. And that's just at the whim of when I was on the schedule in the evenings. I actually was able to see this past one with the naked eye in Portland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Reds and violets are visible from the darkest locations in the strongest storms. Cameras will pick reds up easily, but the human eye won't. Most photos are long exposed and exaggerated in that sense, but the one you posted is probably very close to accurate. I've only seen reds and violets twice. Got my first reds in November I guess it was 2013 here at the office. It was pretty cool to be able to see that with the naked eye. Ekster says this event Tuesday probably would've looked better in photos, but was more brief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Nice brief G2 geomagnetic storm earlier today (well, yesterday). Conditions aren't favorable now but I checked a few times anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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