Aurora 6-7th April 2000


The first part of this display started with occasional reddish patches forming over the green glow.

It was the red patches which alerted me to the display because their colour is so distinctive - quite different to the usual skyglow from urban light pollution.

Here the quiet green glow is competing with (and winning) against the orange glow of the western edge of Reading.

Film brings out the green colour well. To the eye it wasn't so strongly coloured because of the low intensity. The curtain effect was clearly visible, although not as strongly as this fairly long exposure might suggest.

A longer exposure showing natural skyglow and the muddy orange of light pollution below.

While we were driving to a darker site the aurora intensified so we quickly found a safe place to stop. For a few minutes the whole northern sky became a wall of orange and red light. Multiple rays reached all the way up the sky creating a cathedral of light.

Here the top of the curtain reaches up to the stars of the Plough. This really was one of the most spectacular things I've seen. Several people drove past us during this time, obviously having no idea what was going on overhead.


Pentax K2, 28mm   6-7th April 2000
Berkshire, England

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