Aurora Borealis: The Northern Lights

It's not often you get to see them in the mid-latitudes, & rarer still that we see them as intense as they were on September 7th, 2002. On top of that, what are your chances that you'll be at a weekend long event dedicated to to the observation of the skies when it occurs??? All of us at CSP12 were treated to a show we'll not soon forget. Barlow Bob had even commented that in the 30 years of his going to star parties, only four times did he see the Aurora during the event. Of those four times, this one was the best showing.    In a quickness, I tore my digital camera off the telescope & sat in on a tripod, aimed at the display overhead. I didn't realize until later on, though, that in the darkness I had accidentally put my wide-angle lens on top of a macro lens already on the lens adapter of the camera, so many of the shots came out blurred. Nonetheless, the vividness of the Aurora comes through brilliantly, so the shots weren;t a complete loss. Many thanks to those at the party who reassured me that they were still good shots, even if they weren't focused!

'The Money Shot' If you only look at one of my Aurora shots, make it this one. Taken before I slapped the wrong lens on, you can make out Ursa Major clearly on the right. Click the image to enlarge.

Tour the Fuzzies As long as you don't care about the images being a little out of focus, click the image to the right to begin a tour of 'the fuzzies'. Twelve selected shots that, despite the obvious flaw, really show just how intense the activity was. Not bad for 41*N! Simply click each image to go on to the next...