Was it worth imaging during the Aurora?

[WolfieGlos]

...well, possibly !

With clear skies being so rare this year, I had my usual rig set up for Friday night given the clear skies that were forecast. I was hoping to get more data on some targets I've been working on before the Moon period and the end of astrodark. The aurora forecasts in the past have always been hit and miss here.... little did I know! In fact, I forgot to start my imaging run such was I in awe of the spectacle in the sky. But since my rig was all set up and ready to go, I decided to carry on, thinking heck, what's the worst that can happen?

Potentially, these could be some of the only DSO images captured during the most incredible display of the Aurora? Did anyone else decide to try it?

Captured with my Starfield 102 x0.8 reducer + 585MC + Astronomik L2 Filter. Stacked in Siril, processed with PI and Blur+Noise XT. Also a dose of GraXpert to try and sort out the background issues.

Here's 35x120s on M104. Colour is way off, but probably could be sorted with some clever trickery (SPCC didn't solve it). Multiple issues in the background too, even GraXpert couldn't sort it out. Compared to my half-hour run the other week, actually it's not too bad...

Here's 40x180s on M64. Looking much better, but detail has definitely been lost. I adopted a higher black point to reduce the background effects and show the difference vs M104.

I have a WIP on this galaxy with 49x180s subs, which shows a lot more detail in the core, rings and more of the outer layers. I suppose that's a given, for the effects of the Aurora. Here's a comparison of no Aurora vs with Aurora (right-side) with a very similar process:

So, was it a total waste of time?

Well, for one, if I create a stack of the subs with and without the Aurora, it leaves a lot of issues in the stack. Aside from the detail and loss of colour, there are other issues too. So as part of an ongoing project; yes, it was a waste of time.

To still get data to produce an image? Well, it was better than expected and it worked I suppose.....

[ampleamp]

you got more than me so probably worth pursuing if nothing else just for the novelty value, but for me, no it was not worth it. The attached image of a raw frame was typical of what i got so i'll review the subs before i bin them, just in case there is anything of interest, but i'm not expecting much. My shed opens and closes automatically and i couldn't be bothered to stop it so let it run, and just enjoyed the spectacle  🙂. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

I noticed a lot of magenta gradient in my subs, but my results were ok for my gear and skill level.

[ONIKKINEN]

I had to scrap an hour or so from my last years M81/82 image due to aurora gradients (the february 2023 light show). I found that it just ruins the background and makes things difficult, so better to just leave those subs out.

By the way, check the plot tab in Siril after registration and set one of the axis to 'background value'. You will see a plot of the intensity of the auroral display and can calculate how it affected your sky brightness. It could easily have brightened your skies by a factor of 4 or more and temporarily made your bortle rating a couple of values worse.

[Hals]

I marked all the somewhat washed out subs in Nina with the "thumbs down" icon when the aurora was in full swing. A really strong part of it was right where I was imaging and showed up just like thin cloud. When I get round to processing the final image (still only about halfway through my planned sequence) I'll have a closer look at the poor ones, see if they can be salvaged.

All in all a small sacrifice for such a wonderful sky show. 

[tomato]

Yes, the loss of an imaging session to a rare very impressive Aurora display is worth it, I would say.

As it was, I managed to miss both opportunities…

[WolfieGlos]

6 hours ago, ampleamp said:

you got more than me so probably worth pursuing if nothing else just for the novelty value, but for me, no it was not worth it. The attached image of a raw frame was typical of what i got so i'll review the subs before i bin them, just in case there is anything of interest, but i'm not expecting much. My shed opens and closes automatically and i couldn't be bothered to stop it so let it run, and just enjoyed the spectacle  🙂. 

Wow, my subs were not this bad! I suppose M101 was near the zenith for you, where there was a lot of activity. My targets were roughly due west, so they missed a lot of those gradients, but the sky in every direction was affected. Which was spectacular. But definitely the seeing (and guiding) was affected losing the detail and colour for me.

I did find a few subs of M104 had streaks like this (no idea what those droplets are; they disappear 5 subs in), but I excluded them from the stack in any case.

 

4 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

By the way, check the plot tab in Siril after registration and set one of the axis to 'background value'. You will see a plot of the intensity of the auroral display and can calculate how it affected your sky brightness. It could easily have brightened your skies by a factor of 4 or more and temporarily made your bortle rating a couple of values worse.

That's a very good point! I didn't consider the effect on the sky brightness; only the gradients! Probably because it did feel dark outside and was classed as Nautical and Astro dark, and it wasn't bright like when the Moon is out.

I've tried adding some (and most) of the subs to the stacks without the aurora and I get horrific results in the cores of the galaxies which I've deleted now (it did look like a huge overexposure come to think of it), so that might be what's disrupting it. I'm putting it down to a test session for some "quick and dirty" imaging in a somewhat unique experience.

36 minutes ago, Hals said:

All in all a small sacrifice for such a wonderful sky show. 

Absolutely! 

22 minutes ago, tomato said:

Yes, the loss of an imaging session to a rare very impressive Aurora display is worth it, I would say.

As it was, I managed to miss both opportunities…

 Sorry to hear that tomato, hopefully we get another one with the current solar cycle.

And clear sky too 😄

[gorann]

I guess you can do like Lorand Fenyes and make a memorable image of what M13 looks like during full Aurora:

https://www.astrobin.com/tcyv9y/

Up here at 60°N the sky was in any case too bright for imaging and even too bright for seeing any Aurora.

[WolfieGlos]

49 minutes ago, gorann said:

I guess you can do like Lorand Fenyes and make a memorable image of what M13 looks like during full Aurora:

https://www.astrobin.com/tcyv9y/

Up here at 60°N the sky was in any case too bright for imaging and even too bright for seeing any Aurora.

That's certainly a unique image! Stars look pretty decent too. Although if you hadn't said Aurora, I would have assumed that he'd captured a lot of Ha 😆 Is there any near M13?

That's a shame goran. At 60 degrees, do you often get affected by nights with the Aurora in the darker months?

[Steve Ward]

Now don't get me wrong , I enjoy deep-sky astronomy but .........................

I absolutely love that people are seemingly whinging about losing a few hours of data on object that look exactly the same every time they image them ... 😂

And the cause of this 'loss' .................. was a probably once in a lifetime astronomical event for most of the population , a stunning display of aurora sweeping down across the whole of the UK  and much further south beyond ... 😲

I'm pretty sure you'll get another shot at "M-whatever" the next clear night , but you're not going to get a repeat of Friday's fireworks any time soon ... .

Clear skies to you whatever your targets , mini moan over.

[WolfieGlos]

15 minutes ago, Steve Ward said:

Now don't get me wrong , I enjoy deep-sky astronomy but .........................

I absolutely love that people are seemingly whinging about losing a few hours of data on object that look exactly the same every time they image them ... 😂

And the cause of this 'loss' .................. was a probably once in a lifetime astronomical event for most of the population , a stunning display of aurora sweeping down across the whole of the UK  and much further south beyond ... 😲

I'm pretty sure you'll get another shot at "M-whatever" the next clear night , but you're not going to get a repeat of Friday's fireworks any time soon ... .

Clear skies to you whatever your targets , mini moan over.

Who's whinging Steve? 🤷‍♂️

It's merely a comparison with/without the Aurora effects and seeing if anybody else happened to be imaging at the time during the best Aurora display we've had for years. Especially given the magnitude and incredible nature of the, as you correctly say, stunning display of Aurora. I stood outside and admired it until 03:30am over my area 🙂 The rest of the day I was flagging like crazy and very sleepy, but it was absolutely worth it for that display.

[tomato]

Ironically, it was imaging that indirectly caused me to miss the Aurora. I had concluded that conditions were not good enough on Friday night to go for the target I was currently engaged in so unusually for me I decided not to start a session. Had I gone out I too would no doubt be raving about the once in a lifetime event. I certainly wouldn’t moan about the aurora messing up an imaging opportunity, I save my vitriol for the clouds.

[WolfieGlos]

7 hours ago, tomato said:

I save my vitriol for the clouds.

I think we all do 😆 Well, maybe the Moon at times as well. Although this year's been so cloudy, even the Moon doesn't get a look in at times.

[tomato]

Yeah, even I give up if you can’t see the moon through the clouds.🥴

[gorann]

On 15/05/2024 at 09:30, WolfieGlos said:

That's certainly a unique image! Stars look pretty decent too. Although if you hadn't said Aurora, I would have assumed that he'd captured a lot of Ha 😆 Is there any near M13?

That's a shame goran. At 60 degrees, do you often get affected by nights with the Aurora in the darker months?

Actually I have not seen Aurora up here at 60°N for many years. We see it as a northern Sweden phenomenon (around 70°N) and nothing to be expected here in the southern half. So clearly this has been a once in a lifetime event with unprecedented sun activity. I am surprised that we have not heard more about disturbances of electronic infrastructure.

Edited May 16 by gorann

[ONIKKINEN]

6 hours ago, gorann said:

Actually I have not seen Aurora up here at 60°N for many years. We see it as a northern Sweden phenomenon (around 70°N) and nothing to be expected here in the southern half. So clearly this has been a once in a lifetime event with unprecedented sun activity. I am surprised that we have not heard more about disturbances of electronic infrastructure.

I did lose internet briefly, and my car radio was acting up with strong static and weak signal with stations that are normally ok. The peak was at 01:28 on Saturday here in Southern Finland at 60N which also luckily was the darkest hour of the night, and it was easily bright enough to shine through city lights. It was probably still too bright in Sweden at that time since you are an hour behind, so you just barely missed the show because it was still too bright at 00:30 your local time.

I will agree with you that its not that common to see aurora here in the south and you have to go to Lapland to expect to see aurora more often.

[gonzostar]

A 20min un-processed excitable M13 from Friday's aurora night 😁😁