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Why do we see the Northern Lights in Gray and white?
Why do we see the Northern Lights?
What colors are in the Northern Lights?
What colors can you see if you go north to see the Aurora?
Where do aurora lights come from?
What are the 'northern' and'southern' lights?
Nov 22, 2013 · Rod cells, concentrated in the periphery around the outside of the fovea, can detect much fainter light at night, but only see in black and white and shades of gray.
- Stunning Auroras Photographed in 3D With Everyday Cameras
Since auroras extend between about 55 and 240 miles (90 and...
- The Milky Way
Early astronomers thought the Milky Way was a spiral galaxy...
- Stunning Auroras Photographed in 3D With Everyday Cameras
- Seeing Aurora Is Breathtaking, But What About Colors?
- Latitude Makes A Huge Difference in Aurora
- Camera Settings For Aurora
- Seeing Dancing Lights and Spikes
- Incredible Oval, Perfect Arc and Tall Spikes. OH My!
- Aurora Displays Ebb and Flow, Constantly Changing
- What You See Versus What Cameras Capture
While observing the aurora, or northern lights, is a truly awe-inspiring and often breathtaking experience, the images that come out of modern day DSLR cameras may not match what you witness in real life. Or even your cell phone. Especially if you live below about 50 degrees N. latitude, as I do in Unity, Maine. I’ve photographed many colors in the...
I’ve heard from folks who have visited or lived in areas such as Alaska, Norway or higher northerly latitudes. Where they live, the aurora is usually overhead, not on the horizon. So, the colors of an aurora are easily seen with the unaided eye. Also, I made the attached graphic (below) to show what I mean. Because these three photographs exemplify...
I generally set the white balance on my camera at Kelvin 3450 to 3570 when shooting the features of the night sky. But I will also take a few frames with it set on auto to see what colors the camera thinks it should be capturing. Most times I end up going with the Kelvin setting, which is a little bit on the cool/blue side of the spectrum. The EXIF...
I saw “dancing lights” in the sky, spiking straight up starting around 100 feet (30 meters) off the ground. They waved a bit like curtains but stayed in basically the same area. They seemed to be kind of a blur though, and the “spikes” were not very defined. There was definitely a green hue on the horizon and a bit of red color above that. But I di...
The most impressive oval I’ve ever seen, a perfect arc which covered the Northern sky’s horizon. The tallest and most crisp “spikes” I’ve witnessed, reaching all the way to the stars. Again, I saw definite green around the oval at the horizon but the spikes themselves were white/grey. And not the intense red that my camera captured.
The intensity of the aurora always ebbs and flows, sometimes it is quite strong and other times it is mild. If you can see a simple glow or swirling lights on the horizon and/or “spikes” shooting into the sky that look like spotlights and/or “curtains” of light, pay attention and/or be patient. The display can last just a few minutes, a half hour o...
Thus, the human eye views the northern lights generally in faint colors and as shades of grey and white. While DSLR camera sensors don’t have the same limitation as our eyes. Couple that fact with long exposure times and high ISO settings of modern cameras, and it’s quite evident that the camera sensor has a much higher dynamic range of vision in t...
4 days ago · Shawn Dahl, a forecast coordinator with the Space Weather Prediction Center, told CBS Boston executive weather producer Terry Eliasen that the northern lights have been so intense lately because of where the sun is in its 11-year solar cycle. Dahl said that "we are in the midst of solar maximum."
Jun 23, 2023 · Here we learn what causes the different colors in the aurora borealis (northern lights) and the aurora australis (southern lights).
- Connections to the Sun. Such displays have long been documented by peoples throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. In the 17th century, scientific explanations for what caused the aurora began to surface.
- Earth’s magnetic field as a particle trap. The most common source of aurora is particles traveling within Earth’s magnetosphere, the region of space occupied by Earth’s natural magnetic field.
- Earth’s magnetosphere in a turbulent solar wind. During quiet and stable conditions, most particles in the magnetosphere stay trapped, happily bouncing between the south and north magnetic poles out in space.
- Curtains, colors, and cameras. The amazing displays of aurora dancing across the sky are the result of the complex interactions between the solar wind and the magnetosphere.
Mar 1, 2023 · Have you ever wondered how aurora colors work and why sometimes the aurora is just green or red, while other times it is a whole rainbow of hues? The short answer is that nitrogen and oxygen in the upper atmosphere release light in specific colors in response to solar radiation. Here’s a closer look at the process and the resulting aurora colors.
The lights we see in the night sky are in actual fact caused by activity on the surface of the Sun. Solar storms on our star's surface give out huge clouds of electrically charged particles. These particles can travel millions of miles, and some may eventually collide with the Earth.
