Possible aurora sighting Belfast - Photo

[tooth_dr]

I went out to check the gear as it was getting a bit windy, and towards the NE I saw a ?strange looking cloud formation. I ran in to get the camera/tripod, and snapped a few pictures before it disappeared within a few minutes.

Can someone confirm if this is an aurora from my photos? They need a bit of processing, but anything I try to do doesn't work?

Cheers

[tooth_dr]

[icpass]

Wow, that certainly likes like aurora to me.

[richbyers]

amazing! wish i could see this

rich

[tooth_dr]

Thanks guys, it looked pretty awesome, and my site is really light polluted. I can only imagine what it would have looked like from a dark sky!

[Psychobilly]

Have you checked back through the spaceweather.com archives to see what the auroral activity forecast was like at the time the images were taken?

Nice if they are aurora...

Peter...

[callump]

Sorry, looks like cloud to me. Colour does not look right for aurora, and kinda the wrong direction and orientation. Aurora watch shows no magnetic activity last night, and nothing on spaceweather.

/callump

[tooth_dr]

I emailed it to our local club, and they reckon it's an aurora!

Colour is most likely down to my processing, given that I live in mag 3 sky area, with orange being the dominant colour in all my photos.

[johnkirkpatrick]

sure looks like it mate

[garyscott]

Aurora alert

Give this a look for current extents of auroral activity.

[Talitha]

Sorry, but those are 'cirrus radiatus' clouds illuminated by light pollution. Low altitude Auroral structure is green, not streetlight-orange, and the color would show quite easily without any image processing being done. From anywhere in Ireland, you'd need a Kp between 7 and 9 to see anything but the highest it's been since the 19th is a 2.... here's the data. Aside from that, the Bz wasn't far enough south... looks like it was hovering at -3.

[tooth_dr]

Why does it come up green then when I push the saturations and levels?

I will post an unprocessed image when i get a chance.

[Talitha]

TBH, i've no idea... you shouldn't need to tweak Aurora images to see the green color. I've been in Aurora groups for over 10 years and have never heard of anyone seeing or imaging an Auroral display through a "really light polluted" sky, but we've seen many images of cirrus clouds which were thought to be Auroral structure.

Take a look at these images:

7-8 Nov, 2004a

7-8 Nov, 2004b

Notice how the structure lines travel in a straight line and don't 'fan out' or lightly arc upwards like the cirrus radiatus clouds in your image do.

[tooth_dr]

Well then I guess I can feel a little disappointed today.

[Talitha]

Don't be disappointed. Just keep checking spaceweather.com to find out when things look good for an Aurora, and then go somewhere that has a dark northern horizon. 30-60 seconds at ISO 400-800 will show you the color you're hoping to see.

[saturn5]

Have to agree with Talitha,also the Aurora activity lately has been minor with a Kepplar index of 1 or 2.To able to see aurora as far south as Belfast i would think an index of 5 or so would be required to see anything from your latitude.

Heres an image i took from 59N with a max kepplar index of 4 which shows that the Aurora oval is still nowhere near overhead.

[saturn5]

This link may be of help too.It shows you where the Aurora Oval is but also shows you how far south the display can be seen though if you are down near the southern limit then the display will be nothing more that a faint greenish glow on the horizon.

The Geophysical Institute Auroral Forecast Page