Last Night’s Aurora

At the Giant’s Causeway, Co Antrim.

By Martin McKenna, who sez:

The aurora we saw was sublime!, the best I have seen here since 2005 with vertical green pillars of light some 60 degrees high accompanied by amazing pulsating/flaming motions like the beating of a heart which was jaw dropping. We could even see the beams reflecting on the ocean forming their own glitter paths – what a night!! Canon 450D, 18mm, ISO1600

And nearby Ballintoy Harbour:

Via SpaceWeather.com


27 thoughts on “Last Night’s Aurora”

  1. good god that is an amazing pic. tell us more martin, what were the exposure details?

  5. I need to see the aurora before i die. Is there any way of knowing it will be visible up north or is it all pot luck?

    • you can find info about it online, check for any of the irish astronomy forums. good views depends on weather/cloud cover mainly and whether there’s been a lot of meteorlogical activity the last while. the large solar flares of late have had an effect on the aurora being seen closer to ireland in recent times so you’d probably want to try get up north next time there’s a whisper of it as soon as you can as there’s no guarantee its here to stay so close to ireland. Its probably cheapest way you’re going to get to see it too, otherwise you’d normally have to travel very far north in norway to get a guaranteed glimpse of it.

    • Follow aurorawatch uk on twitter. They mentioned last night as having high activity but I thought it would be too late in the year too see anything.

    • Not long now Stoneruile, you’ll see more and more of it as the year progresses but you only have until December 12th 2012… then the world will deflate, collapse in on itself with a sound like letting air out of a balloon because we humans dug so many holes in it… it will all just go “pffffffffft” followed by a small squeee sound of absolutely no significance to the rest of the universe, the end.

  7. Minister Phil Hogan and his department will be rolling out a comprehensive raft of measures to deal with the waste involved in the Auroras, his department has employed various specialists/friends, at considerable, but justifiable cost, to study viable ways to on how to tax the naturally occuring phenomenon, all options are on the table, “how can people expect in the 21st century to be seeing the Aurora for free, it has to be paid for, whether you like it or not” “the stratosphere is a finite resource that needs to be properly regulated, and perhaps at the expence of childrens education and mental health facilities amongst other things the state has abrigated it’s responsibilty for” waffled the minister…..allegedly..

    • hahah, that is hilarious. I didn’t think it would be possible to make political humour based on aurora photos but you’ve pulled it off beautifully. .

    • This is why I love Broadsheet- along with pics of the Aurora, newborns pulling birdies etc.

  8. Beautiful shots! Sure wish I could be there. Can imagine how awesome this is over the Causeway. April, ’07 surely didn’t provide this gorgeous sight. WOW.