Dancing Aurora at Loch Ardinning (Explored! Thank You!)
A photo from Tuesday night's aurora shot during a 2hr vigil between c9.30pm and 11.30pm at Loch Ardinning just a 10min drive from my house on the northern edge of Glasgow. There'd been a good burst of aurora activity (a red alert) at c 6.30pm but I'd missed that and only noticed something was happening when I noticed photos being posted on social media after I'd got my youngest 2 kids to bed at 8.30pm. I changed my plans and headed to Loch Ardinning- which is very handy- to see what might still be going on. There were Northern Lights visible to the naked eye when I arrived taking the form of a band over the Campsie Hills with occasional intense green vertical bands dropping to the horizon. It quietened down pretty quickly and stayed as a slumbering glow until unexpectedly at c10.30/45pm-ish it suddenly flared up for maybe 2 mins with a much broader, intense band of green light with vertical bands and areas of pink/red- all visible clearly to the naked eye. The waning gibbous moon (c83%) didn't help viewing conditions nor did my proximity to Glasgow with its massive light pollution but still the experience was the best I've had in Scotland over dozens of sightings over the last few years. Mist stole creepily across the loch surface and owls hooted in the woodland. Ducks and geese quacked and honked and flapped their wings irritatedly on the odd occasions I flashed my torch to adjust camera settings. The International Space Station sailed sedately across a quarter of the sky at one point. My feet got cold in my poorly insulated wellies. It was thrilling!
(Time lapse here youtu.be/pauwvacs3yY )
Dancing Aurora at Loch Ardinning (Explored! Thank You!)
A photo from Tuesday night's aurora shot during a 2hr vigil between c9.30pm and 11.30pm at Loch Ardinning just a 10min drive from my house on the northern edge of Glasgow. There'd been a good burst of aurora activity (a red alert) at c 6.30pm but I'd missed that and only noticed something was happening when I noticed photos being posted on social media after I'd got my youngest 2 kids to bed at 8.30pm. I changed my plans and headed to Loch Ardinning- which is very handy- to see what might still be going on. There were Northern Lights visible to the naked eye when I arrived taking the form of a band over the Campsie Hills with occasional intense green vertical bands dropping to the horizon. It quietened down pretty quickly and stayed as a slumbering glow until unexpectedly at c10.30/45pm-ish it suddenly flared up for maybe 2 mins with a much broader, intense band of green light with vertical bands and areas of pink/red- all visible clearly to the naked eye. The waning gibbous moon (c83%) didn't help viewing conditions nor did my proximity to Glasgow with its massive light pollution but still the experience was the best I've had in Scotland over dozens of sightings over the last few years. Mist stole creepily across the loch surface and owls hooted in the woodland. Ducks and geese quacked and honked and flapped their wings irritatedly on the odd occasions I flashed my torch to adjust camera settings. The International Space Station sailed sedately across a quarter of the sky at one point. My feet got cold in my poorly insulated wellies. It was thrilling!
(Time lapse here youtu.be/pauwvacs3yY )