Is this really the aurora?

[Oblong]

This is a longish exposure image (5s, ISO640, f/2.8) taken from just north of Copenhagen on Wednesday night at around 6.30 GMT, looking East. Conditions were far from good, with at least thin cloud everywhere, but there were still some vertical bars of light visible with the naked eye (one, before I could get the camera, was competing with the streetlights for brightness). Over the course of about 10 minutes, these things moved from the north, to the east and then off to the south, before heavy cloud came over for the rest of the night.

Given how far south we are, and that there didn't seem to be any major activity noted on the various aurora forecasting websites, I've been trying to think up alternative atmospheric explanations for what this might be. I've drawn a blank, so I'm asking for help. It would be fantastic to have seen the aurora from down here, but it just seems so unlikely.

Thanks!

[Astronut1982]

I don't think it is, I'm no expert but I believe it is a type of cloud formation. If you look at the colour, it matches whatever is below it.

I see the same thing from my house when the clouds are in this formation & the nearby refinery is burning stuff off.

Jeff

[Stu]

It looks to me more like reflections of the lights at the bottom of the image? I think it is too regular in being vertical stripes, and does not look like other images I've seen. Last thing is that it appears under the cloud, whereas the cloud should block it off. Not sure why it would move, possibly with the clouds?

Nice picture, others may disagree, but unfortunately I don't think its the Aurora :-(.

Cheers,

Stu

[Dodge]

It looks to me more like reflections of the lights at the bottom of the image? I think it is too regular in being vertical stripes, and does not look like other images I've seen. Last thing is that it appears under the cloud, whereas the cloud should block it off. Not sure why it would move, possibly with the clouds?

Nice picture, others may disagree, but unfortunately I don't think its the Aurora :-(.

Cheers,

Stu

Agreed.  The colours of the reflection match the lights on the horizon.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Yep, looks like lights reflecting. Possibly on your camera lens. Was the image taken through a window by any chance?

[Oblong]

Yes, there does seem to be some alignment with the lights of Malmo (city on the right). It wasn't through a window, and it wasn't internal reflections in the camera (because I saw it with the naked eye). Also, it was above the cloud - or at least most of the cloud, because it was only visible through gaps and thinner hazy bits (i.e. where stars were also visible). I have some photos of it when it moved further round to the south, and there are no lights in that direction until you get to Poland. Whatever it was, it was jolly strange. It's not helped by the streetlight orange reflecting off the clouds, which was confusing the heck out of the camera's white balance.

Ah well, you can't blame a chap for trying. At least I didn't think it was a flying saucer

[U Cyg]

Hi, it looks like a false aurora caused by ice crystals reflecting the streetlights. 

If you search fro 'false aurora from streetlights' you should find some images.

[Oddsocks]

As U Cyg above, also called a "Fata Morgana", common in the Arctic and seen above ice sheets, a type of atmospheric lensing, it can also form away from the poles due to fine suspended ice crystals in the lower atmosphere or it can form in a temperature inversion layer below or above cloud layers. A common feature of a "Fata Morgana" is the tendency to distort the source image vertically.

http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-meteorology/phenomena.html#mirage

[1parsec]

They look like light pillars.  Lights on the ground being reflected by plate shaped ice crystals in the atmosphere.

If that's what they are there's a explanation here - http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/lpil.htm

Dave

[saturn5]

Definitely light pillars.

[tdmodels]

I take it then, that these are also light pillars?

http://www.astromania.co.uk/Aurora3large.jpg

 

[Stu]

They do look more like light pillars than an aurora to me, too regular and vertical, and the colours seem to change in different positions as if reflecting lights on the horizon. Still very nice though!

Stu