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Around 9pm this evening 27th February 2023 I went out on a short walk about 5 minutes up a local farm track that gives an unhindered view of the northern horizon. I nipped through a gap in the hedge and set up the tripod at the field edge.
I couldn't see any evidence of aurora with my eyes and the moon was making things quite bright. I took a couple of shots with the OM-1 and 8mm f1.8 Fisheye thinking I could at least try some astro shots. The first shot showed a pink pillar clearly visible! I pointed the camera more to the north and took some more shots but after about 10 minutes the aurora had faded. The sky glow in my shots is probably from Cambridge about 13 miles distant in the direction of he hedge line - also St Neots and Huntingdon are not far away.
This first shot was 10 seconds, f1.8 ISO 3200. It was over-exposed but this pink pillar on the left was visible and I reduced the exposure -2 in post-processing.
Aurora 27.02.2023 - Picked up on Camera by Bill Dennis, on Flickr
This shot is 5 seconds f1.8 ISO 1600. I reduced exposure a little in post processing.
Aurora 27.02.2023 - Picked up on Camera by Bill Dennis, on Flickr
Before packing up and heading back for a hot chocolate, I took a couple of shots at 5 seconds ISO 6400 to show how much the Moon was lighting things up. The red glow on the horizon in the first of these with the Moon is from the lights on Sandy Heath TV transmitter near RSPB HQ - nothing to get excited about!
Nighttime Rural Scene - ISO 6400 by Bill Dennis, on Flickr
Nighttime Rural Scene - ISO 6400 by Bill Dennis, on Flickr
I had planned to go out again later to see if the auroral activity had picked up again, but the clouds came in so that was it. I probably should have skipped University Challenge and gone out earlier!
Bill
I couldn't see any evidence of aurora with my eyes and the moon was making things quite bright. I took a couple of shots with the OM-1 and 8mm f1.8 Fisheye thinking I could at least try some astro shots. The first shot showed a pink pillar clearly visible! I pointed the camera more to the north and took some more shots but after about 10 minutes the aurora had faded. The sky glow in my shots is probably from Cambridge about 13 miles distant in the direction of he hedge line - also St Neots and Huntingdon are not far away.
This first shot was 10 seconds, f1.8 ISO 3200. It was over-exposed but this pink pillar on the left was visible and I reduced the exposure -2 in post-processing.
Aurora 27.02.2023 - Picked up on Camera by Bill Dennis, on Flickr
This shot is 5 seconds f1.8 ISO 1600. I reduced exposure a little in post processing.
Aurora 27.02.2023 - Picked up on Camera by Bill Dennis, on Flickr
Before packing up and heading back for a hot chocolate, I took a couple of shots at 5 seconds ISO 6400 to show how much the Moon was lighting things up. The red glow on the horizon in the first of these with the Moon is from the lights on Sandy Heath TV transmitter near RSPB HQ - nothing to get excited about!
Nighttime Rural Scene - ISO 6400 by Bill Dennis, on Flickr
Nighttime Rural Scene - ISO 6400 by Bill Dennis, on Flickr
I had planned to go out again later to see if the auroral activity had picked up again, but the clouds came in so that was it. I probably should have skipped University Challenge and gone out earlier!
Bill
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