After missing them earlier in 2024, here in the north of England we were recently treated to a spectacular display of the aurora borealis – the Northern Lights. Something that’s been on our bucket list for years, with previously failed attempts to see them in both Norway and Iceland, all we had to do was step out into our garden to witness one of Mother Nature’s most amazing sights.
I’d always been intrigued by how strong the colours would appear to the naked eye; I’ve read how long exposures and computational photography can enable cameras to “see” a far richer and deeper palette, so how would the aurora look in the flesh?
First, let’s remind ourselves what the aurora actually is and why it occurs…
Auroras are the result of disturbances in the Earth’s magnetosphere caused by the solar wind. Major disturbances result from enhancements in the speed of the solar wind from coronal holes and coronal mass ejections. These disturbances alter the trajectories of charged particles in the magnetospheric plasma. These particles, mainly electrons and protons, precipitate into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere). The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emit light of varying colour and complexity.
Wikipedia
And the answer to how they look? Increasingly amazing as the evening progressed. I initially struggled to tell if the sky had a tinge of green; via my Pixel 6 camera on Night Sight mode the colour was far stronger. But as the spectrum shifted and more pink appeared, the colours blossomed into magical patterns.
It just so happened that Jupiter was shining beautifully bright that night, adding something really special to the atmosphere. You can see it below, so much brighter than anything else in the heavens.
Here’s a few more photos from the night. And if you do every get the chance to see the aurora, grab it – you’ll remember it for a long time. My wife leveraged the web brilliantly to be best informed as to when to see them; there are numerous social media accounts that can be followed, but if you want old school t’Interweb pages then there are academic updates such as those from AuroraWatch UK.
