New Aurora Pictures: Sun Storms Trigger Sky Shows

Aurora Paths

Photo composite by P-M Hedén

Although the northern lights display wasn't at first visible to the naked eye, photographer P-M Hedén captured a faint green "aurorabow" in long-exposure pictures snapped September 9 from Vallentuna, 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) north of Stockholm, Sweden.

"I decided to do a time-lapse. For this I chose 13-second exposure, ISO 800 [at] f/3.2, and hit the button using my Canon 550D and Tamron 11-millimeter," Hedén said in an email, adding the he took 780 photos to compile his video. "I also wanted to do a star trails shot, so I stacked the photos, and this was the result."

The composite picture shows not only the faint green aurora but also moonlit clouds, circular star trails, and the path of an airplane coming in for a landing at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.

Published September 14, 2011

Alaska's Auroral Curtain

Photograph by Brandon Lovett

A bright midnight aurora creates a ghostly highway in the skies over Fairbanks, Alaska, on September 12. A second CME arrived at Earth on September 11, sparking a new round of auroras on Sunday and Monday nights.

Fairbanks "was overcast and drizzly for the first round of geomagnetic storms caused by the CME," photographer Brandon Lovett commented on SpaceWeather.com. But skies cleared two days later, allowing Lovett to snap several shots of the northern lights display.

"Even with the bright harvest moon, the colors shone through quite vibrant, with active pinks and dark greens," he wrote. "There never is a dull night at latitude 65!"

Published September 14, 2011

Northern Lights Layers

Photograph by Nathan Biletnikoff

Green auroras span over Puget Sound, Washington State, in a picture taken September 9 from Cattle Point on San Juan Island National Historic Park.

"Unfortunately, the northerly sky was backlit by the full moon, so images needed longer exposure to capture the intensity," resulting in a loss of detail, photographer Nathan Biletnikoff said in an email. Still, to the naked eye, "we were graced with a beautiful display of bands and streamers—many of which would come and go."

(Find out why the San Juan Islands made National Geographic Traveler magazine's list of ten best trips of summer 2011.)

Published September 14, 2011

Prosperous Aurora

Photograph by Yuichi Takasaka

Auroral curtains swirl over Canada's Northwest Territories in a picture taken early Monday morning.

"This image was taken at Prosperous Lake on September 12 before 3 a.m., when the harvest moon was shining from the left side of the frame," photographer Yuishi Takasaka said via email.

According to Takasaka, tourists often visit the nearby town of Yellowknife (map)—just outside the Arctic Circle—to watch and photograph the aurora borealis each September, when nights are warmer than the winter lows of -22 to -40 degrees F (-30 to -40 degrees C).

(See more pictures: "Huge Solar Storm Triggers Unusual Auroras." [2010])

Published September 14, 2011