aurora_19_04_02_01
50mm lens, ~20 seconds at f1.8
Friday 19th April was my lucky day. I was travelling on the west coast of Scotland for the weekend, with visiting fellow member of the ASV Glenn Capuano (and his wife Sherri!). There were forecasts of auroral activity and miraculously, the cloud cleared for the first time that day as we arrived at Ballachulish, near Glencoe.
Around 11pm when it was finally getting dark, we drove a little out of town and even before I got out of the car, I could see a faint vertical ray extending above the low hills on the north side of the loch. Further to the left, we could see an unnatural sky brightness very low in the north, that over time we could see was the bottom of the auroral curtain. From this we could see a vertical ray or two appear, move a little sideways and then fade away. Often the rays seemed quite sharp, and the unpredictability of where they would appear next and how long they would last made them exciting to watch. Overall, however, the level of activity was fairly low, so eventually, my observing companion retired to bed.
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