Northern Lights: large solar flare tomorrow (Anchorage, Hope: to buy, moving, photos)

[DarkWolf]

So wait , the Sun never sets up there?

[ImAHobbit]

Two thumbs up Ray!

[Glitch]

Nice photo Ray.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by cjg5

Wow at the moon! It really is luminous up there! Almost like a mini sun, lighting up the area right around it! Never seen the moon quite THAT bright before!

When taking a photo of the moon, the camera's settings are similar to taking photos of a person on a sunny day at the beach. It means that the moon is a very bright object compared to the Auroras. Do you see the little dots of light around the Auroras from the starts in the sky? These too are quite bright, just not as close to the camera as the moon is.

So, since it takes longer to expose the Auroras (not as bright as the moon and the stars), this in turn exposes the stars, moon, sunlight, or any other light source a lot sooner.

Another example (take a look at the floodlights from the building at the right). This was a moonless night:


I usually expose the Auroras from 9 to 25 seconds depending on how dark it's at night. If the moonlight illuminates the sky and landscape, I sometimes bring the exposure anywhere from 9-13 seconds.

[blueflames50]

Wow Ray...what a sweet effect the floodlights give that photo!~

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by blueflames50

Wow Ray...what a sweet effect the floodlights give that photo!~

Thanks.

Yes, the lights from the building in the center are sort of blue, while the floodlights are the right are yellowish from halogen or mercury floodlights. The latter were so bright that I had to crop most of them out of the picture.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

When taking a photo of the moon, the camera's settings are similar to taking photos of a person on a sunny day at the beach. It means that the moon is a very bright object compared to the Auroras. Do you see the little dots of light around the Auroras from the starts in the sky? These too are quite bright, just not as close to the camera as the moon is.

So, since it takes longer to expose the Auroras (not as bright as the moon and the stars), this in turn exposes the stars, moon, sunlight, or any other light source a lot sooner.

Another example (take a look at the floodlights from the building at the right). This was a moonless night:


I usually expose the Auroras from 9 to 25 seconds depending on how dark it's at night. If the moonlight illuminates the sky and landscape, I sometimes bring the exposure anywhere from 9-13 seconds.

Good response, and another good photo. There is another way of looking at it (no pun intended). Since the human eye takes approximately 0.1 second to see and identify an object, a photograph with an exposure time of 10 seconds will appear approximately 100 times brighter than if the same object were viewed by the naked eye under the same conditions.

[cjg5]

Thanks for the explanation, Ray, and again, awesome photos!

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Glitch

Good response, and another good photo. There is another way of looking at it (no pun intended). Since the human eye takes approximately 0.1 second to see and identify an object, a photograph with an exposure time of 10 seconds will appear approximately 100 times brighter than if the same object were viewed by the naked eye under the same conditions.

Good points. Thanks.

[Moose Whisperer]

The lights are on right now. Been watching for about the last hour from my front yard.