Living in the Scottish Highlands has afforded me a grandstand view of the Aurora on many occasions.
On a clear night I can often see a ‘green glow’ in the sky, from my house, sometimes with reds & purples too. However, ‘really good shows’ are much rarer, but fortunately there have been several since I moved to the Highlands. Shimmering, snaking, shape-shifting pillars of light in the sky, the ‘merry dancers’.
If the combination of clear sky weather forecast, and magnetometer forecast look promising, I will often head to Loch Fleet, or somewhere that offers a wider view of the sky and has foreground interest.
These videos show the best I’ve seen with my own eyes.
They are best viewed at full-size on a large screen, and just like the aurora itself, need to be viewed in dark or dim(ish) conditions, although not necessarily in the middle of the night.
On both occasions, the ‘show’ went on for approx. 2 hours. At times, clouds moved across the sky, and the aurora did ebb & flow. There were times I thought it was over, but I waited. Fortunately I did, as the best was yet to come. These are part of the best bits. On both occasions, the temperature was around 2C to -2C, and I was frozen through. How we suffer for art, but it’s worth it.
This sequence from March 2022.
This sequence from February 2023.
The image at the head of this page is a ‘stitched panorama’ taken that night. That involves taking a shot, rotating the camera, then repeating until a series of the whole vista is captured. The final image is created by stitching the individual shots together using software. I’ve never done it with an Aurora before, but it seemed to work well, despite being a ‘moving subject’, shot with a series of time-exposures. It represents an almost 170 degree view.
You can see more Aurora shots in the ‘Aurora project portfolio’, including some taken directly behind where I live.