Amateur's Can Contribute.

[AstroTasmania]

Keep taking those unusual astro shots, you never know, you may just have what other people need.

Such as Australia Telescope Astronomy Outreach & Education.

Scroll down the page to Aurora Australis

http://outreach.atnf.csiro.au/education/senior/cosmicengine/sun_earth.html

Clear skies...

[Radar]

Nice work Shev. I wish I could see Aurora's from where I am.

[rogerg]

Congratulations.

It certainly is nice to see when amateurs are helpful to the pro's.

[phoenix]

Hi Shevill
Very nice aurora.
I have not seen one myself, i am waiting for the right time.
I have found a link to a site that may help spot aurora's :thumbsupmate:

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapS.html

[AstroTasmania]

Hi Phoenix,

Thanks for that, it is on my routine check list as is this one, which I check every day. http://spaceweather.com/ a very informative site.

Clear skies

[CanisMajorTom]

Nice work Shevill. How often do you get Aurora's where you are?

[AstroTasmania]

Sadly, not as often as we would like. If the sun sends off a CME in our direction, we have a reasonable chance. I think the northern hemisphere get more aurora's than we do. I always look though, especially at aurora alert times. Sometimes I can see low level activity with my very sensitive video cameras, which are not visible to the naked eye, in B&W though.

Clear skies...

[phoenix]

Hey Shevill.

Back in 2004 when viewing the Aurora Australis over Hobart, was it visible to the naked eye? And what does the k-index have to be to see one? :hmm:




Cheers Jason. :pipethinker:

[Radar]

What is the K index?

[phoenix]

What is the K index?


HEY RAY


Have a look at this site it will explain the k-index.


http://www.sec.noaa.gov/info/Kindex.html



Cheers jason.:pipethinker:

[AstroTasmania]

Hi Phoenix,

Basically, if the skies are Klear, my "K" factor, (sorry Phoenix) even low level aurora are visible to the naked eye, often visible in my deep sky video cam when not visible naked eye. When things are humming along - a 2-3 second exposure captures the action I am after. Long exposures make pretty, but very inaccurate images of what is actually happening, as my video records show.

The image just becomes a coloured blur with a long exposure over 5 seconds, unless it is a very strong static glow.

When activity is predicted, as it is the next two nights, given clear skies I will keep checking and have the cameras set up.

Cloudy at the moment plus a Moon increasing in brightness to kill the very faint ones.

Regards... Shevill

[wakaleo]

Good work Shevill and a great photo. It's obvious you don't suffer from Auroraphobia! I doubt I'll ever get to see one, being mildly Cheimatophobic!

[Radar]

Cheimatophobic!

lol, I just learnt a new word. And I also think I could have this. :hmm: