Northern lights photos 2005

8.1.2005

I didn't really intend to photograph auroras this night. Instead I was looking for the naked-eye comet Machholz. In this picture, the comet can be seen as a tiny dust spot near the Pleiades (the group of stars).

This picture was taken in the middle of suburban lights in Hervanta, Tampere, Finland.

31.8.2005

• MPEG
• M$-AVI and Radius-AVI

It was a nice surprise that the Kp-index showed some signs of activity in the evening.

I went to the Southern shore of lake Näsijärvi (Tampere, Finland) to monitor the situation.

At midnight the aurora became more lively and spread to over 120 degrees from the Northern horizon.

All this night's pictures were taken with Canon G3 and Soligor's 0.25x fish-eye.

At this stage my camera's battery started dying. Since it was relatively new and newly loaded, I suppose the camera itself is broken. :-(

10.9.2005

Our return from the Artjärvi observatory was interrupted when we noticed some green aurora pillars at the Northern horizon.

We decided to head for the shore of Näsijärvi, Tampere, which would give us a nice view towards North. After a while a nice, green band of auroras spread to the night sky.

The activity seemed to be decreasing after midnight and we headed for home.

Our journey was again interrupted by a bright band of green auroras and we drow to the shore of nearby lake Särkijärvi (Hervanta, Tampere).

An animation consisting of about a hundred single images in MPEG-format.

We monitored the dance of the band until 1 am when activity diminished.

Before this shore had been a nice, dark observation site... until the summer cottage at the opposite side of the lake got outdoor lighting.

Kari Nyman is watching the last remains of the aurora activity before we really headed for our homes.

12.9.2005

After two days the Northern horizon revealed a promising green glow. I drove with my friend Antti Mäkelä to the shore of Näsijärvi in Nin the Niihama area to observe the development of the activity.

16 images animaation in MPEG-formaatissa

The show of the night was beautiful, but not as powerful as two days ago (and certainly nothing compared to the fabulous year 2002). Still we saw some nice dancing green rays about at midnight.

40-image animation from the shore of Näsijärvi in
MPEG-format and
MPEG-format(with more interpolated frames)