Image Aurora The Neuk au7124ajhp by Jim Henderson

Aurora over Scotland > Aurora The Neuk au7124ajhp
Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights displays photographed taken over Aberdeeshire in Scotland since 1989 covering some 350 events with arc, rays, coronas with a wide rnage of shapes and colours
Aurora The Neuk au7124ajhp Scotland Northern Lights display Neuk Crathes Deeside rays winter January 23rd 1990 taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the first of 1990 which proved to be an extremely productive decade for Aurora displays and photography. I took this photo of the Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. As there was moonlight then there is some additional overexposure element along with less saturation in the colours. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September. The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. The first selection of photos was taken after 22.30 as in this case, the later ones after a second period of activity nearer 23.30UT. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North which meant that any clear night were spent watching the Northern skies for the tell-tale signs of a possible display, usually proceeded by an area of obvious brightness on the evening before the main display. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays. Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1990, January, 23rd, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
© Jim Henderson
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Photographer: Jim Henderson
Collection: Aurora over Scotland
Filename:
Aurora The Neuk au7124ajhp
Upload Date: 2016-03-24 10:38:53
Photo Size: 18mb 5312x3567 pixels
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Caption:

Scotland Northern Lights display Neuk Crathes Deeside rays winter January

23rd 1990 taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the first of 1990 which proved to be an extremely productive decade for Aurora displays and photography. I took this photo of the Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. As there was moonlight then there is some additional overexposure element along with less saturation in the colours.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September.

The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. The first selection of photos was taken after 22.30 as in this case, the later ones after a second period of activity nearer 23.30UT. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North which meant that any clear night were spent watching the Northern skies for the tell-tale signs of a possible display, usually proceeded by an area of obvious brightness on the evening before the main display. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays.
Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1990, January, 23rd, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured