Gunnedah photographers braved the cold to capture some amazing images from the recent Aurora event.
An aurora is described by space weather forecasters as one of nature’s most spectacular visual phenomena – bright lights dancing across the night sky.
The brightest auroras are primarily concentrated in rings around the north and south poles but can appear elsewhere.
In the northern hemisphere the lights are called Aurora borealis and in the southern hemisphere, Aurora australis – the Latin word for sun.
During large solar explosions, plasma clouds can carry solar storms which have the potential to strip away the earth’s atmosphere.
Fortunately, the earth is protected to an extent by its own magnetosphere.
When the conditions are right, and these solar particles combine with the earth’s magnetic field, light is produced at different wavelengths creating the aurora.
Hayley Hausfeld and Robert Cummings from Blackjack Camera Club snapped these sensational shots of the aurora over Gunnedah.
Hayley also offered these tips to Gunnedah Times readers or other amateur photographers looking to take a great Aurora photo.
Hayley’s hints
1) Keep an eye on Geomagnetic Activity. There are a couple of sites I use but Facebook is a good resource. Aurora Australis is a great page for info and photos.
2) Go somewhere dark and away from light pollution. The farther away from lights and town the better the photos. This also includes the moon. You will get the best photos on the nights the moon is at its smallest.
3) Being able to see South.
4) Clear Skies. This is the hardest part. Lining up the right time and clear skies is always a challenge.
5) Time. The geo-activity is usually at its peak at 10pm-2am.
6) Trust. As we are so far north, most of the time you won’t see the Aurora with your own eyes. You might see a slight glow but not the “Aurora” that we see in all the documentaries. You will need to have faith and take a long exposure photo and see what happens. The mobile photos are 10 secs exposure and the ones I took with my DSLR camera are around 20 secs. You will need to have a way to keep your camera still. Tripods are the best but use what you have. Car, bins, roads are something I have used for makeshift tripods.
Hayley’s hints: These photos of the Aurora were captured on Hayley’s camera phone, proving amateur photographers don’t necessarily require top-line equipment to capture the moment.
Robert Cummings, also from Blackjack Camera Club in Gunnedah, took this great photo of the Aurora.
